Ex-Salty’s waiter charged in alleged $35,000 embezzlement

| Crime | West Seattle news | West Seattle restaurants

Thanks to Marco for pointing out this seattlepi.com story about charges filed in a case of alleged embezzling at Salty’s on Alki. We’ve obtained the court documents in the case — here’s the story they tell:

29-year-old Kurt Argys, who lists an address on Capitol Hill, is charged with first-degree theft. He’s due in court a week from today to answer the charge.

Here’s what the court documents say happened:

Argys worked at Salty’s as a server from 2005 to 2008. On August 24, 2008, a Salty’s employee filling in for the regular bookkeeper noticed something unusual about the books from the night before: The valet-parking manager had voided some transactions for Argys. The fill-in bookkeeper found that odd because the valet manager wasn’t even inside the restaurant very often. Much questioning and investigation ensued; the fill-in bookkeeper discovered that the management codes belonging to the valet manager and a banquet manager had been used to void cash transactions for two years for Argys and another employee. Managers met with Argys twice, and twice he denied any knowledge of the situation and said he didn’t steal anything.

After further investigation, the restaurant’s general manager contacted Argys and the other employee and told them that the theft wouldn’t be reported to police if they paid the money back. The other employee did pay back what the restaurant said was taken – $4,344.85. (Quoting the court document, “Salty’s is not pursuing criminal charges for (that former employee).”

The restaurant determined that Argys had taken $34,389.32 in cash between 2006 and 2008. He told the general manager he couldn’t come up with that sum immediately; then he said he was going to hire a lawyer because he didn’t trust he wouldn’t be prosecuted even if he did pay back the money. Negotiations involving a lawyer ensued, and they agreed on a payback amount of $25,000. But Argys never paid, and the lawyer ultimately told Salty’s he had no intention to, so a theft report was filed with police on November 11th of last year.

In the final section, the report says “Typically an employee should have no more than $500 in voids a year” – for each year, 2006 to 2008, Argys had more than $10,000.

Catherine September 28, 2009 (10:40 pm)

They settled for about 10k less and he still didn’t pay? Yikes. I can’t imagine stealing for that long and not feeling like an awful person the whole time. Guess some people’s consciences speak more softly than others.

coffee September 29, 2009 (7:23 am)

yea for the fill-in bookkeeper!

flynlo September 29, 2009 (9:10 am)

I wonder how much the “regular” bookkeeper got!

miws September 29, 2009 (10:53 am)

That would be curious to know if the regular bookkeeper had any direct part, flynlo.

Not excusing blatant carelessness, or complacancy, but sometimes a “fresh pair of eyes” can catch something that another, locked into the day-to-day routine, may have overlooked.

Mike

WSB September 29, 2009 (10:56 am)

Before any further speculation, there is nothing in the court documents addressing that (I did not upload them directly because there are last names of witnesses and people not charged, but I did provide all the detail above of what was spelled out) – just the two ex-employees, the one who made restitution and wasn’t charged, and the one who didn’t and is – TR

Dave September 29, 2009 (12:26 pm)

Amazing that Salty’s would want to retain these two thieves! Idiots.

Elizabeth September 29, 2009 (2:49 pm)

I don’t see where it said Salty’s wanted to retain the employees, from what I can see (in the PI full article), once it was figured out what was happening, the employees were confronted and then let go.
They were then asked to pay back what they had taken and the case wouldn’t be taken to a criminal court. One complied, one refused. One is going to court, one is not.
Neither of those employees currently work for Salty’s on Alki. That is just what I had gathered from the two articles… am I misinformed?

WSB September 29, 2009 (3:09 pm)

Our story includes more details from the documents than were included in the P-I story; however, the only thing in the documents that indicates either person’s status is that it’s stated that Argys worked for Salty’s from 2005 to 2008. Three days after the situation was discovered, he was summoned to a meeting, after which he was told “to leave.” There is nothing in the documents that says he (or the other person) was fired, nor to confirm that the other person is no longer an employee there, although the officer writing the report that constitutes the “probable cause” document writes about trying to contact the other person and being unable to reach them either by going to their residence or by leaving phone messages, so you could draw the assumption that means they were no longer working at Salty’s, otherwise they’d be reachable there – TR

AceMotel September 29, 2009 (5:00 pm)

I’m just curious about the court documents: they are public records, no? If they are public records, then anyone can look at them. Is it just a personal or professional journalistic decision NOT to upload public records, even though they are public documents? I’m just curious about the protocol. Is it an ethical decision? Or a standard? IMO, the original documents are far more interesting than any reporting, be it WSB, PI, whatever….

dawsonct September 30, 2009 (12:20 pm)

What is REALLY crappy about this story, is the waitron was probably pulling down $40K a year, sucking up to the tourists. Meanwhile, the line cooks in the back are making the food that attracted the clients in the first place, and they produce it with consitency and quality that keeps them coming back, and are doing it for $20-25K/year.
–
From my observation and basic knowledge of psychology, servers are like actors: they lie for a living. All smiles at the table while resentment seethes just below the surface, showing itself with hateful comments about their customers at the pass-through and at the bar for after-work drinks.
They are not all like that; some are true professionals, and in the right situation they will make upwards of six figures, and deserve it. Most seem to treat it as low-hours job with a certain amount of flexibility that allows them to pursue their true calling (mmm-hmm). There is an oddly large number who act as though they are being forced to do what they are doing, and will poison the waters around them in many ways. Skimming on bills is not all that unusual, nor is stealing from the pantry or walk-in.
Just one more of the thousands of reasons it is difficult to make money in the restaurant business.

dawsonct September 30, 2009 (12:22 pm)

Maybe I should change my name to Bitter Cook, but I’m sure it’s been taken.
–
I kid, of course. (I think?)

Concerned West Seattler October 1, 2009 (12:42 pm)

The funny thing is, is that Salty;s will host a dinner for a murderer (Amanda Knox), which is raising funds for legal defense for a Class-A Felony charge, but a man steals money from the place, and its a bigger deal.

hmmm October 1, 2009 (11:09 pm)

I think that its important for people to get all the information before we all state the facts. A guest is a guest and “hosting” a dinner for Amanda Knox inplies that they paid for the event. Is it against the law, especially in this economy, to accept a guest(s) who happens to be supporting someone who’s a suspected murderer? Thats silly. Salty’s is a buisness and in the buisness of turning a profit.

dawsonct October 2, 2009 (9:24 am)

I believe Ms. Knox is charged with, but hasn’t been convicted of murder. I don’t think it would have been right or very smart of Salty’s to refuse the business.

Sorry, comment time is over.