A hot dog eatery made famous on the TV series "M-A-S-H" is getting a new owner, but the role of its founding family is still unsettled.
A judge on Monday approved a $5.5 million deal transferring ownership of Tony Packo's Inc. to a private restaurant group. The move came just days after the founder's grandson was charged with stealing from the family business.
Tony Packo III, who is executive vice president of the company, had been in line to oversee the daily operations with the new owner. An attorney representing the ownership group, TP Foods LLC, said last week that that hasn't changed.
Packo III and another company employee have been accused of stealing about $170,000 and each would face up to three years in prison if convicted. His attorney hasn't commented on the charges but questioned why prosecutors filed them in what he called a business dispute.
Robin Horvath, who owned half the company, sued Packo III and his father, Tony Packo Jr., in July. He accused them of blocking him from looking at company financial records after he began questioning them about company spending.
Horvath also opposed the sale of Packo's to a restaurant group that owns 26 Burger Kings in the Toledo area.
Actor Jamie Farr, a Toledo native, put Packo's on the map in "M-A-S-H" when he portrayed a homesick U.S. soldier in the Korean War who longed for its hot dogs.
"If you're ever in Toledo, Ohio, on the Hungarian side of town, Tony Packo's got the greatest Hungarian hot dogs," Farr's character, Cpl. Max Klinger, said on an episode in 1976.
The original Packo's remains a destination and is decorated with "M-A-S-H" memorabilia.
