ROGERSVILLE — A Hawkins County couple, who until last week worked at a Rogersville steakhouse, told the Times-News on Tuesday they were accused of stealing beef and cash by the owner because he didn’t want to pay them $2,000 in back salary.
Colin Smith, who owns the Big Creek Farms Steak House and Grill in Rogersville, filed a report with the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office on Friday claiming that $7,000 worth of beef and $12,000 in cash had been stolen from the business since January.
According to the HCSO report, Smith points the finger at his brother, James Smith, and James Smith’s fiance, April Ford, who worked at the restaurant until April 1.
Colin Smith told the HCSO that he was checking the books and noticed $7,000 in beef and $12,000 in cash missing.
Colin Smith reportedly told the HCSO nothing had come up missing since James Smith and April Ford were “terminated.”
HCSO Detective Daniel Byington wouldn’t comment on the allegations Tuesday except to say James Smith and Ford are being investigated.
Ford told the Times-News on Tuesday she and James Smith are innocent, are cooperating with the sheriff’s office, and they don’t believe any thefts took place.
“We are working with the sheriff’s office, we have turned over our bank records, and we have told the sheriff’s office we will take a polygraph test right now if they’ll give it,” Ford said. “Neither one of us were terminated. We both quit because for the past three or four weeks we haven’t gotten paid. They owe us close to $2,000 in pay they never would give us, and that’s what this all boils down to.”
Ford added, “I told them I was coming in Friday to get our pay that they owed us, and if we didn’t get it we were going to the Labor Board about not getting paid. Coincidentally, the day I showed up to get our money, that’s when they had the sheriff’s office there and started this whole mess.”
The Times-News and other area media reported the theft allegations, although James Smith and Ford weren’t listed as suspects by name.
Still, Ford said Tuesday that in a small town like Rogersville people know they are accused. She said they are now being shunned by friends and libeled on social media including Topix.com, where someone has posted a “thread” naming them as the thieves.
The Times-News attempted to contact Colin Smith several times Tuesday for further comment on his theft allegations, but no one answered his phone. A message on Colin Smith’s phone said the voice mail had not been set up.
Ford said she was in charge of the restaurant’s butcher shop until she quit April 1. She said she knows there is no beef missing.
“I know every piece of beef, cheese, deli meat, anything that went in and out of that butcher shop,” Ford said. “I can tell you anything that went out of that butcher shop was documented, and anything that had to be thrown out was weighed and priced out and written on a waste sheet.”
Ford added, “He (the detective) said he didn’t see it going that far, that he thought this was all just a bunch of hogwash. I asked the sheriff’s office what kind of proof did they give you to prove we did anything. He (the detective) said, ‘We have no proof. The only thing we have is that they said you did it.’”
Ford said she and James Smith will seek legal action against Colin Smith if they don’t receive their back pay. She said they will also file a libel lawsuit against the anonymous blogger who named them as thieves on Topix.com