TRAVERSE CITY, MI -- A man who embezzled more than $100,000 from a pair of Mancino’s pizzerias was sentenced to between 15 and 20 months in prison Tuesday. According to UpNorthLive, James Lake, 55, of Traverse City, will also have to pay restitution for the $133,832 as part of his sentence.
Lake served as the general manager at the Mancino’s locations in the Chum’s Corners and West Bay areas of Traverse City, but was arrested and charged in March following a police investigation. Police were contacted by the owner of the restaurants in January over concerns of possible embezzlement.
Police determined that Lake was utilizing a rewards program at the restaurants to enter rewards as transactions and then the cash was removed from the register in order to correlate with rewards being used. The investigation revealed that 99% of the rewards transaction were reported through a single computer which was in Lake’s office.
It is believed Lake had been embezzling the money since 2019. In May, he pleaded guilty to a charge of embezzlement over $100,000 as part of a plea agreement.