Assistant manager of restaurant arrested
The assistant manager of a local fast food restaurant was arrested Wednesday after the general manager discovered a large sum of money missing from the safe.
William Corey Johnson, 25, who lists a Lakeland Drive address, was arrested shortly before 12:30 p.m. and charged with a felony count of theft of property over
$1,000, punishable by up to six years in prison. He was later released on $2,500 bond and is set to appear July 25 in Garland County District Court.
According to the affidavit, the general manager of Zaxby’s, 4400 Central Ave., filed a report alleging the assistant manager, identified as Johnson, had removed $3,753.52 from the business without permission.
She noted that near the end of business on June 8, Johnson reportedly entered the office and removed cash from the safe. She claims he also collected the drawers from the register and took them into the office, removing the money. He then reportedly put all the money into bags and left the store, leaving the other workers alone at closing time.
She said Johnson later returned to the business, sent all the workers home and then collected the money before leaving again.
During his absence, other employees contacted the general manager and told her Johnson had walked out. She reportedly made several attempts to contact him, but her calls went unanswered.
The next day, Johnson voluntarily came to the police department to be interviewed. He reportedly told detective Jarret Cantrell he had been a victim of a phone scam and that was the reason he left with the money.
He said he had received a phone
call stating the store’s general manager was under an FBI investigation and he needed to place money on prepaid credit cards. He provided Cantrell with the cards and receipts for $2,100 worth of cards, but there was no indication about the status of the other $1,653.52.
The general manager provided a copy of an earlier email sent to managers of the Zaxby’s chain referencing online scams. The email warned managers of the nature of the scam being used and set up new protocol if it happened.
The protocol states that in the instance of an attempted scam, employees must contact the store’s general manager or district manager before any money was removed.
The general manager said she attempted to contact Johnson several times during the night, but he never answered. She noted she finally reached him the next day and he told her about the scam as an excuse for the missing funds.