By Rob Ginter - Staff Writer
MOREHEAD
MARCH 5 — An assistant manager at local restaurant is accused of pocketing patron money to feed a drug habit.
Bobby J. Brown, 26, of Olive Hill is charged with theft by unlawful deception over $500 after police say he confessed to stealing $900 a month for three months from Fazoli’s of Morehead.
According to police, on occasions when Fazoli’s customers paid cash, Brown would hit ‘charge’ as if they had paid by credit card and then pocket the money.
Fazoli’s owners told police they lost $42,000 in 2009 and noticed they lost $10,000 in November and December, which led them to investigate. Another employee had allegedly witnessed Brown pocketing a small amount of cash. Brown was then turned into managers and then into the owners, and in the process Brown ended his employment at Fazoli’s. Brown denied taking the full amount missing, only $3,600.
“Drug abuse is expected in the case,” said Morehead Police Department Detective Sgt. Matt Salley. “My advice to businesses in town is to examine records and pay special attention to them because of our drug problem. The bulk of the cases I’ve worked have been towards this, and it’s not small amounts of money lost.”
Brown was lodged in the Rowan County Detention Center Feb. 25. He posted 50 percent of a $5,000 partially secure bond Monday, according to jail officials.
The case is still under investigation by Salley.
