A former office manager and income auditor for Ruth’s Chris Steak House was arrested Monday for stealing more than $230,000 from the Garden City restaurant during a five-year period, prosecutors said.
Barry Pearlstein, 69, of Orlando, Fla., was arraigned Monday before Judge Roy Watson in Nassau County District Court on felony charges of grand larceny and 10 counts of falsifying business records. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the top charge, prosecutors said.
Watson set Pearlstein’s bail at $25,000 cash or bond. He is due back in court on Dec. 9.
“Businesses that have weathered several recessions and rising costs shouldn’t have to also account for workers who steal and lie to cover up their tracks,” Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said in a statement.
Pearlstein was found to have embezzled more than $230,000 occasions between January 2009 and May 2014 by stealing funds meant for deposit and filing false records to conceal the transactions on 511 occasions, the restaurant found in an internal investigation.
Pearlstein, who was employed by Ruth’s Chris Steak House for 11 1/2 years, was terminated by the restaurant in June and subsequently moved to Florida, police said.
The results of the internal audit were then referred to the Nassau County District Attorney’s office, which conducted a joint investigation with the Nassau County Police Department’s Crimes Against Property Squad.
Efforts to reach Pearlstein’s attorney, David Besso of Bay Shore, were unavailing.
Reach reporter Bill San Antonio by e-mail at bsanantonio@theislandnow.com, by phone at 516.307.1045 x215 or on Twitter @b_sanantonio. Also follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
