TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A former Cabos Island Bar and Grill manager is facing grand theft charges after being accused of altering transactions and pocketing the money.
Olivia Hicks, 32, was arrested on Wednesday.
According to complaint documents, Hicks had worked at the restaurant for approximately four years.
The business' bookkeeper called the Tallahassee Police Department to the restaurant on April 5 about an employee theft. The bookkeeper told police that the employee in question, Hicks, worked as both a server and a manger and frequently processed gift certificates.
She noted that, until recently, Hicks had access to other manager's logins as well.
However, when the bookkeeper looked over the records, he noticed Hicks wouldn't have the receipts for the gift certificates to support them. The bookkeeper discovered that Hicks would void and change other server's tickets before pocketing the money.
The bookkeeper also learned that when the restaurant switched to plastic swipe gift cards due to the number of gift certificates being processed, Hicks began partially voiding tickets before converting the rest to a gift certificate.
Other evidence suggested Hicks was using other managers' logins to void and change server's tickets.
In fact, the bookkeeper told police that the total amount of tickets changed to gift certificates and/or voided from January 1, 2018 to April 4, 2018 to be approximately $4,849. The restaurant is still working on auditing November 2017 and December 2017.
Documents note the fraud affected the business so significantly, the owners raised prices and took pay cuts in an attempt to fix the cash flow problem.
Based on the statements provided by the servers, managers, and owners as well as the bookkeeper's audits, police found probable cause to charge Hicks with grand theft and scheme to defraud.
