The owner of The Chop House on Waring was arrested last week after it was discovered that she perpetuated a scam upon customers, credit card processing companies and vendors.
According to the DeWitt Police Department, investigators received a complaint in April by a Chop House patron who said their credit card had been falsely charged by the restaurant at 200 Waring Road. This patron had also made it known that they believed this to be part of on ongoing pattern of fraud committed by the steakhouse based on what they had heard from friends and read on online message boards.
The police department subsequently interviewed several customers who similarly reported that they received additional charges from the restaurant beyond the original cost for their meals.
Police said most of these patrons reported that they attempted to get the money refunded but were met with different excuses given by the owner, DeWitt resident Sharon McCarthy. These customers ultimately had to seek their refunds through disputes with their credit card companies.
After reviewing banking records, investigators learned that McCarthy would falsely double or overcharge customers. Upon receiving the deposited money from the credit card processors into her business banking accounts, she allegedly would remove the money within a short time frame so that all chargebacks would be rejected for lack of funds.
McCarthy apparently used multiple business names to establish accounts with multiple credit card processors after each would end up suspending her accounts once they received rejections of multiple chargeback attempts.
The DeWitt Police Department reported that it received business records showing that McCarthy, 65, had fraudulently obtained approximately $100,000 in money and property.
However, some subpoenaed records are still pending, and the department predicts that there are more victims of this scheme who either are not yet aware of the charges to their cards or did not dispute them, thus the theft is believed to have an even further reach.
McCarthy was arrested on Oct. 8 and charged with grand larceny in the second degree, four counts of grand larceny in the third degree, grand larceny in the fourth degree, and two counts of scheme to defraud in the first degree. She was taken to the Onondaga County Justice Center pending arraignment.
