Susan Pisut, 51, of Harleysville.
A former employee of Tiger’s Family Restaurant in Hatfield Township will no longer face felony theft charges, following a Rule 586 restitution agreement that was filed in late August.
According to court records, felony charges of theft by deception, theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property against 51-year-old Susan Pisut, of Harleysville, were dismissed on Aug. 27 as part of the agreement. The charges had been filed against Pisut in 2019, following an investigation by the Hatfield Township Police Department into the theft of thousands of dollars from the restaurant over a period of several months.
According to the complaint, Hatfield Township Police were dispatched to Tigers Family Restaurant—located along the 1000 block of North Broad Street—on Aug. 27, 2019 for a report of a theft by an employee, later identified as Pisut. Upon arrival, police spoke to one of the owners, who stated that Pisut was allegedly stealing from the register by reporting that customers were paying the bill using a gift card and then pocketing the cash, the report states. (Note: the method of theft is being withheld by North Penn Now, to prevent similar actions.)
The owner informed police that the amount of gift card transactions made by Pisut was very high, and they were otherwise rare when she was not working, police said. Investigators were also provided with surveillance footage allegedly showing Pisut ringing up orders as gift card purchases on multiple occasions, then taking the cash that the customers had used to pay their bill, the report states.
Investigators learned that the restaurant has only sold $3,035 worth of gift cards since they opened in August 2016, but nearly 500 gift card redemption transactions totaling $8,716.18 had been conducted in 2019. The complaint states that $7,640.26 worth of bills had been closed as gift card transactions while Pisut was working in 2019, with $3,688.53 of the transactions occurring during her shifts in July 2019 and August 2019 alone.
Pisut was terminated from Tigers Family Restaurant on Sept. 3, 2019. Police interviewed her later that day, at which point she allegedly confessed to the theft scheme, adding that she had stolen small amounts of money throughout the year, but did it more frequently in July and August after she missed two weeks of work and her son lost his job, the complaint states.
As a result of the investigation, Pisut was arrested on Oct. 15, 2019 and arraigned two days later by Magisterial District Judge Andrea Duffy on felony charges of theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property and theft by deception. Due to Pisut being on probation at the time of her arrest, a detainer was lodged and she was remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.
Court records indicate that Pisut would later post bail on Nov. 21, 2019, and she has remained free since that time.
See also:
Hilltown Man Sentenced To State Prison For Fatal DUI Crash On County Line Road
Woman Pleads Guilty To Stealing More Than $500,000 From Hatfield Employer
Man Charged With Homicide By Vehicle While DUI In Hit-And-Run Crash On County Line Road
Lansdale Man Sentenced To Jail For Armed Standoff With Police In Doylestown
Chalfont Man Pleads Guilty To Stolen Valor, Defrauding Department Of Veterans Affairs
