A Massachusetts woman accused of stealing $200,000 from the Irish pub she worked at overcharged customers, voided meals and failed to pay employees in order to fuel her severe gambling addiction, authorities claim.
The theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars came after a Keno machine was installed in the restaurant.
Following that, the woman neglected her responsibilities as general manager, forged checks, stole money and played the Massachusetts Lottery game for hours at a time during her shifts, according to a memorandum filed in Plymouth County Superior Court by Assistant District Attorney Alex Zane.
55-year-old Maureen M. Graham was indicted last week by a Plymouth County grand jury on a variety of larceny, forgery and tax evasion charges, all stemming from her time working at The Voyage Irish Pub and Restaurant in Scituate. The indictments came after a seven-month grand jury investigation in which 43 subpoenas were issued for financial records involving Graham, according to prosecutors.
Graham, a Plymouth resident, was hired as the general manager of the Scituate pub on March 14, 2018. She handled the restaurant’s daily operations and payroll, dealt with vendors, tracked cash sales and occasionally served as a hostess.
The owners of the restaurant were not aware that Graham had been terminated from at least one of the previous restaurants where she was employed after she reportedly stole funds from the business.
The restaurant fired Graham after she failed to deposit cash from restaurant sales into the designated bank account, prosecutors said.
After Graham insisted that installing a Keno machine would bring The Voyage more customers, owner Keith O’Callaghan had a Keno lottery ticket machine installed inside the business in August 2019, Zane wrote in the memorandum.
“The defendant became instantly addicted to Keno,” Zane wrote. “Voyage employees testified that the defendant spent hours standing in front of the Keno machine holding large ‘wads’ of Keno tickets.”
Beginning in 2019 and over the course of 18 months, prosecutors claim, Graham stole roughly $200,000 in cash from various bank accounts belonging to The Voyage that she managed including an account for Keno funds.
Graham often shifted funds around from the various bank accounts to cover her losses if she did not win when playing Keno, according to prosecutors.
“The defendant rarely paid for her Keno tickets,” Zane wrote. “One Voyage employee testified that the defendant played ‘suicide Keno.’ Employees witnessed the defendant taking tickets from the restaurant without paying, hoping to win back enough money to cover the cost of the stolen tickets.”
Graham gambled at least $91,631, betting on the numbers “2 10 67″ at the restaurant, prosecutors claim.
The indictments also claim Graham forged checks in her employer’s name and filed false tax returns in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
“The defendant took these stolen checks and cashed them, transferred funds to her Santander bank account, shifted funds into the lottery account, or transferred stolen funds into the Coastal Heritage bank account she shared with her husband,” the memo said.
Graham’s Keno addition only increased during the months the restaurant was closed due to state-wide regulations during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the memo claims.
“Witnesses testified that while the restaurant remained closed to the general public, the defendant played an excessive amount of Keno,” Zane wrote. “She took advantage of the downtime and amped up her gambling.”
Graham supported her gambling addiction by taking cash from “unsuspecting customers of the Voyage,” prosecutors said.
This included overcharging patrons for their food and drinks, voiding meals or drinks she blamed on customers unhappy with their meals. In total, Graham provided “comp” for approximately $22,652.08 worth of food and drinks while managing the restaurant, prosecutors claim.
Graham also failed to pay staff.
Parents of high schoolers who worked at the restaurant during the summer called and complained leading the owners paying the employees out of pocket, the memo said.
“The defendant mandated that servers and bartenders wait twenty-four hours before providing them their earned tips from the night before,” the memo reads. “This delay sometimes resulted in staff waiting several days (or weeks) to claim their compensation.”
Graham’s “role” as both manager and bartender improperly allowed her to collect tips earned while receiving a salary as restaurant manager, prosecutors said.
In the memo, Zane requested Graham’s bail to be set at $15,000 along with the pretrial conditions that she refrain from all gambling related activities, and stay away and have no contact with the Voyage Irish Pub and Restaurant.