The owner of Gladys Knight’s Chicken & Waffles restaurants was released on $20,000 bond from Clayton County jail Wednesday afternoon, according to online inmate records.

Shanga Hankerson, son of the R&B legend, faces two counts of felony theft by taking for some $52,600 in sales tax a Georgia Department of Revenue investigator said was collected in March and April but never sent to the state, according to applications for criminal arrest warrants filed in Clayton County Magistrate Court.

Hankerson, 39, is accused of taking a total of $650,000 in state sales and withholding taxes, which after penalties and interest totals more than $1 million. The restaurants, which were raided Tuesday, were closed Wednesday.

No bond amount was listed for Hankerson in online jail records.

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Julian Conley listens during opening statements in his trial at Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. The 25-year-old is accused of fatally shooting 8-year-old Secoriea Turner in July 2020. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

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