BATON ROUGE — Chad Hughes, the Baton Rouge restaurateur behind Bengal Tap Room and the now-closed Var's Pizza, has been arrested and charged with felony theft and issuing a worthless check.

Baton Rouge Police arrested Hughes, 41, after an investigation into a worthless check he wrote for the $20,000 purchase of a trailer and dumpsters.

According to an affidavit, Hughes arranged to buy the items on Facebook Marketplace in June. When the seller tried to deposit the check that Hughes gave him as payment, the check was returned due to insufficient funds.

After multiple attempts to reach out to Hughes, the seller told police that Hughes had cut off all communication and made no effort to return the dumpsters and trailer.

On Aug. 4, the seller contacted BRPD about the sale and an investigation into Hughes was opened.

Nearly four months later, on Monday, Dec. 1, Hughes was arrested. Two days later, on Wednesday, Hughes posted a $2,000 bond and was released from the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. 

Hughes previously faced a potential eviction from the downtown bar Happy's Irish Pub in 2023 when he faced legal issues over noise complaints and rental delinquency. A judge ultimately ruled that the pub could continue operating.

He was also sued last year by commercial realtor Hank Saurage, who said Hughes failed to pay back a $1.85 million loan and $100,000 advance. City Bar and Boudreaux & Thibodeaux's have both since closed.

WBRZ also reported that Hughes' property, which once housed City Bar, was also seized after he failed to repay a nearly $2 million loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration