Jul 11, 2014 2 min read

Chartiers Township police are looking for customers of a Racetrack Road restaurant who may have had their charge card transactions altered in June by a former waitress accused of increasing her tips.

Police were notified this week by Mary Beth Carr, owner of Mr. Big’s restaurant, after the discrepancies were noticed by restaurant managers.

“We check all of the slips at the end of the server’s shift,” Carr said Friday. “Things were not adding up.”

The waitress was reportedly altering the charge card slips signed by customers to increase her tip. Carr said the employee was immediately suspended and township police were provided the names of the customers.

“We are actively trying to find the customers and get them their money back,” Carr said. “We just don’t do business that way and never want our customers to think that. There are so many checks and balances in place.”

Carr said that since so many people no longer have home telephones, it has been difficult to contact customers.

Township police Sgt. Steven Horvath said it was not hard to tell the charge slips had been altered. Horvath said only one waitress was involved in the alleged theft. There were transactions involving 39 customers for a total of about $352, he added.

“We have made contact with a few of the customers who we could find telephone numbers for,” Horvath said. “We’d like to notify the others they have been victims of theft and talk with them.”

Once detectives find and talk with the alleged victims, Horvath said they will meet with the Washington County district attorney’s office to determine what charges should be filed.

Customers who used their Visa or Mastercard at the restaurant are asked to contact the detective’s office at 724-745-8030, ext. 215 to determine if their account was affected.