A Greene County woman could see her second restaurant in as many years shut down and put up for auction after not paying taxes or rent for nearly a year.
The Greene County Treasurer’s Office notified Miranda Durrer-Davis, chef and owner of Miranda’s Grill in Ruckersville, earlier this month that the Greene County Sheriff’s Office would put the restaurant’s belongings put up for auction after she failed to pay taxes for the past 10 months. Durrer-Davis also owes nearly $80,000 in overdue rent and could be evicted by her landlord.
“A lawful distress action was executed on October 3, 2025, and notices posted accordingly,” Dawn Lotts Marshall, Greene County treasurer, told The Daily Progress in an email.
It was only last year, Durrer-Davis had her Madison County restaurant, also named Miranda’s, shuttered and its belongings auctioned off for similar legal issues.
Durrer-Davis opened Miranda’s Grill in Ruckersville prior to the seizure and subsequent auction of her Madison location.
The newer restaurant is sandwiched between another recently closed eatery, Vinny’s Pizza and Pasta, and a hair salon at the Countryside Square shopping center near the corner of U.S. routes 29 and 33.
Durrer-Davis maintains she will not be losing a second restaurant.
“My doors are not closed. I am open and that bill will be taken care of by Monday,” owner Miranda Durrer-Davis told The Daily Progress in a Facebook message Oct. 8.
But the treasurer says she is running out of time.
“As of 10/14/2025, an agreement has not been reached between my office and Mirada [sic] Durrer-Davis, thus a Sheriff’s Sale of all property has been scheduled for Friday, October 24, 2025 at 10 AM,” Marshall told The Daily Progress in an email nearly a week later.
After Durrer-Davis was issued a lawful distress notice on Oct. 3, Marshall said, Miranda’s Grill was inventoried. It will be held under lawful distress until Durrer-Davis can either pay the taxes due to the county in full or reach an agreement about repayment.
Marshall said it is specifically meals taxes that Durrer-Davis owes.
“Meals tax is a trust tax, meaning the business collects it from customers on behalf of the County, and is required to remit those funds to the locality. When those proceeds are not remitted, it represents public revenue that was collected but not turned over by law,” according to Marshall.
Court documents show Durrer-Davis failed to pay her Greene County meals taxes between November of 2024 and August 2025, when charges were filed against her in Greene County General District Court.
Marshall was unable to release the exact amount Durrer-Davis owes the county due to the case being “an active enforcement matter.”
Even if Durrer-Davis can pay her overdue taxes, she may be evicted for failure to pay rent.
Court records show Durrer-Davis owes nearly $80,000 to her landlord, Berkley Ferguson, in unpaid rent and fees for March of 2024 through April 2025.
Ferguson owns and leases restaurant and commercial real estate, as well as a U.S. Post Office, in the in the Countryside Square shopping center in Ruckersville. He did not immediately respond to a Daily Progress inquiry.
It wasn’t long ago that Durrer-Davis made local headlines for her culinary endeavors.
She bought former Bonanno’s Restaurant in Madison County from owner and chef Tony Bonanno and renamed it Miranda’s in 2019.
By 2024, Durrer-Davis owed more than $25,000 to the Virginia Department of Taxation. The Madison restaurant was closed, and the Madison County Sheriff’s Office placed its ware up for auction to pay the back taxes.
Durrer-Davis told conservative Charlottesville radio host Rob Schilling in May 2024 that she was left in a difficult position at her Madison restaurant due to Bonanno not paying his own taxes back in 2018.
“When I purchased the restaurant, the contract stated that I would be purchasing the assets and liabilities,” Durrer-Davis said at the time.
She said she signed a contract assuming Bonanno’s assets and liabilities so she could operate under his licenses for the Virginia Health Department of Health and the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority until her own licenses could be approved.
When the Madison County Sheriff’s Office and the Virginia Department of Taxation closed Miranda’s restaurant in April 2024, Durrer-Davis claimed Bonanno was nowhere to be found.
“Tony, as soon as everything was done, he jumped ship and moved to New York, and now he’s in Italy somewhere. Must be nice,” Durrer-Davis told Schilling.
The Daily Progress was unable to locate Bonanno for comment.
Durrer-Davis has had other legal battles outside of her restaurants.
In August 2024, she pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor shoplifting charges at the Ruckersville Food Lion after stealing more than $400 worth of merchandise from the store during two shopping trips earlier in the year. Her plea was accepted by the court in exchange for paying $140 in court costs and remaining on good behavior. The case was dismissed in August 2025 after Durrer-Davis met the court’s criteria.
Court records show Durrer-Davis also was charged with felony larceny in Albemarle County District Court last year after writing a bad check in 2023. The charge was later amended to a lesser count of misdemeanor larceny, of which she was found guilty. Her suspended sentence of 180 days was accompanied by $90 in court costs.
Durrer-Davis said Miranda’s Grill remains open for breakfast, lunch and dinner despite the legal troubles — and the bad press.
“I am also dealing with a lot of issues as far as negativity and nasty comments and everything else and it’s affected my business tremendously and my livelihood,” said Durrer-Davis.
Durrer-Davis will be in Greene County General District Court on Oct. 22. She has been charged with 10 counts of failure to pay taxes.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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