Roy's Place Auction Canceled

Roy's Place, the landmark restaurant in Olde Towne that for the past several weeks was facing , will stay open.

General manager Ramon Chavez said the restaurant's bookkeeper had been stealing from the restaurant since 2008, and that put the well-known behind on their loan.

Tranzon Fox, the Virginia-based online auction house that was going to host the auction, confirmed that the auction was cancelled because Roy's was able to pay off its loan.

He also said a Frederick accounting firm failed to pay the restaurant's taxes, and now Roy's liquor license, which is under Chavez's name, is in jeopardy.

Chavez declined to name the bookkeeper or the accounting firm.

A foreclosure auction was scheduled for tomorrow, but when Roy's was able to pay off their original lender with a short-term loan, the auction was canceled.

"Now we're going to be open, and that's all that matters," Chavez said. He added that the new loan "is going to be directed toward getting a Small Business Administration loan in the future, probably a year or three out."

"The theft is gone," he said. "We've hired a new accountant."

"That's the reason this place went down the way it went down recently," he said.

But he said the reason Roy's has been able to stay afloat through this process is the dedication of the patrons.

He is planning some type of customer appreciation special next week.