ATLANTA — The manager of a popular Roswell restaurant has been sentenced to multiple years in prison after he embezzled more than $300,000 by swiping his company's credit card at numerous Atlanta strip clubs.
According to the Northern District of Georgia's U.S. Attorney's Office, he was hired by Houck's Grille on Crabapple Road in Roswell in August of 2020. In October of that same year, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, he started to rack up charges at two separate strip clubs on his company-issued debit card.
During an 11-month period, the restaurant manager visited the strip clubs more than 50 times. During that span, he racked up over $300,000 on the card, which subsequently crippled the restaurant significantly due to the loss of money.
“This greedy defendant abused his position to fund his own lifestyle. Because of his actions, the restaurant, and people he was chosen to lead suffered the impacts,” said Keri Farley, special agent in charge of FBI Atlanta. “People who brazenly steal from their employers should expect to be held accountable.”
It threatened the jobs of all 40 employees at the time and ultimately forced them to borrow COVID relief funds in order to just stay in business, the U.S. DA's Office said.
The man, originally from Canton, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. He is also being forced to pay a restitution worth $300,533.78. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges and was convicted in September.