Sarah Arbogast Fox 43 News 8:56 p.m. EST, February 8, 2011

 

A former waitress at Bo Brothers Restaurant in Wyoming Borough will be headed to court to face charges she swindled the business out of more than $34,000.

Elizabeth J. Bechtold, 58, of Old Forge, had a preliminary hearing Wednesday in the case and charges of theft were forwarded to Luzerne County Court.

Police said Bechtold committed the "wagonwheel scam" to steal the money. The scam, police said, involves a server pocketing money from self-service items, such as coffee, soda, and soup. Servers get those items themselves and don't need to send an order to the kitchen.

After a customer paid with cash, Bechtold would void or transfer many of those self-service items to another check and pocket the leftover cash, police said. Each time, it would be a loss for the business and direct gain for Bechtold, police said. Records show Bechtold completed 3,949 such transfers between May 13 and Aug. 8 of 2009. That amounted to a $17,061.53 loss for the restaurant, police said. Owners of the business detected the theft while updating their Aloha Restaurant Guard System. Bechtold is free on $10,000 unsecured bail.