Macon officials ask for bar to be shut down, call it a ‘public nuisance’
A bar and restaurant operating in Macon was ordered to shut down last week after frequent and repeated instances of illegal activity, noise complaints, and permit violations, according to court records.
A business called The Bootleg, in the 600 block of Carnation Street, was ordered by Senior Judge Samuel Ozburn on Nov. 7 not to operate after Macon-Bibb County filed a temporary restraining order the day before against the establishment for repeated instances of criminal conduct, including violence, operating without permits, and other violations, according to court records.
The county filed the complaint on Nov. 5, before the protective order, against Bobby Junior Chapman, who owns The Bootleg, and 3 Lejpairner and Tano Management. Both of those entities are owned by Esteban Aloia Macrett, who owns and leases the land where The Bootleg operated.
The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office has received frequent calls to the address, to the point it has devoted “substantial public resources, attention, patrols, time, and operations … to confirm the widespread illegal activity that regularly occurs at the property,” according to Michael McNeil and K. David Cooke in court records, who are the attorneys representing Macon-Bibb County in this case.
In the span of roughly four months this year, the sheriff’s office has received 50 calls to the property complaining of loud noises, drug complaints, and alcohol violations, the county alleged in court records.
Residents living on the streets have also made multiple complaints about patrons’ cars blocking their driveways, according to the lawsuit.
What led to the filing of lawsuit, protective order
Deputies were dispatched to The Bootleg on Carnation Street to investigate multiple complaints of noise and traffic, when they observed “multiple cars parked along the street and the smell of marijuana coming from inside the property where multiple individuals were gathered,” according to attorneys for the county. A group of people was also located outside the building.
“At the conclusion of their investigation, BCSO arrested ten different individuals for a variety of offenses,” McNeil and Cooke said in the lawsuit.
The deputies also discovered that The Bootleg was an allegedly unlicensed and illegal commercial bar, restaurant, and entertainment business. Court documents say the deputies found customers leaving the establishment with takeout containers, signs listing CashApp as a payment method, and a stripper pole installed in the room with multicolored lighting, according to the lawsuit.
Further, a review of photos of Chapman showed him posing with others displaying hand signs and paraphernalia associated with the criminal street gang known as the Crips, the county alleged in the court records.
There was also potential for violence at the location, as the BCSO has detected multiple incidents of gunfire near the house.
“The regularly conducted illicit and criminal activities at the Bootleg render it a public nuisance,” McNeil and Cooke said in the suit.
What’s next?
The judge ordered the defendants not to operate The Bootleg, but Ozburn also ordered BCSO to change the locks of the property, take inventory of what’s inside, and then remove what deputies find inside. Macon-Bibb County will also be responsible for coordinating the deputies, according to Ozburn’s order.
Though Chapman and Macrett did not appear at the hearing for a protective order, they received proper notice, records say.
This story was originally published November 11, 2025 at 3:23 PM.
