Waitress faces prison time after accused of altering tips from customers

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MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. (WCTI/WKRC) - A waitress accused of altering tips at
Snapperz Bar and Grill in Morehead City, N.C. stood before a Carteret
County judge Tuesday morning.

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Kelly White faces four felony charges, including one count of larceny by
an employee and three counts of obtaining property by false pretense.

Snapperz is not just a family business for Marvin Hanford, it’s his
family’s legacy.

“Twelve years ago, dad started Snapperz, it started as a dream between dad
and mom,” said Hanford.

It's a legacy he has been working to build for more than a decade. He said
he wasn’t going to have it torn apart by an employee who was altering
tips.

This hurts us because it affects the people who trust us with their food
and service,” said Hanford.
Police said White changed tips from customers. Hanford said as soon as
management realized what was happening, they immediately called the
police, fired her, and began righting the wrong.

“We are refunding peoples' money," said Hanford. "We don’t want it to be a
reflection of the way we do business. We want to fix it and if they have
been affected by it, come see us. It’s something Snapperz is going to make
right."

To protect yourself from someone changing your tips, Nick Hill with the
Better Business Bureau, said to always check your bank statements to make
sure the business charged you the correct amount.

“Writing a dollar sign before the one or beginning of your tip is a good
way to make sure that there’s no space for the tip to be altered and if
you’re not paying a tip at all too, you should cross out the line,” said
Hill.

Snapperz now has a new system for employees entering tips.

That started that day," said Hanford. "The day we figured it out, we are
now double-checking those slips just to make sure they are correct. We
have been in business since 2000, so we didn’t realize this is something
we had to look at.
There is now a separate screen where employees confirm the tip amount
again to prevent a mistake.

“It’s worth the couple extra minutes of work each day to make sure, even
though this is the first time in 12 years, we won’t have to readdress this
again,” said Hanford.

He said it is important for the customers to always take that second copy
of the receipt, to be able to check their bank statements.

White's next court date is Jan. 7th and she could spend 13 years behind
bars; 156 months is the maximum sentence. She is hiring an attorney.

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