Waitress 'busted for hiking customers' tips for months at popular Italian restaurant'
In a con called 'tip bumping,' Gina Haney, 30, of North Huntingdon allegedly added a 1 or a 2 in front of a customer's tip amount on at least 20 credit and debit card receipts.
At the time, she worked at Lucci's, a restaurant in Penn Township, Penn., with affected customers dining between September and December 2014.
'We figured out who the server was, and then we pulled all of her slips.
'We realized the server had been adding a 1 in front of the tip or a 2 in front of the tip,' manager Josh Wolf told reporters.
We tried to go through and get as many of the customers' names, numbers and call them and take care of it and refund them.'
Police are urging customers to review their old bills as some customers have yet to come forward.
Police said Haney confessed she stole the money to support a drug addiction.
Haney confessed to the thefts, telling Judge Helen Kistler that she had struggled with heroin addiction in the past.
She had, however, been clean two months.
She is out on unsecured bond with a preliminary hearing set for Feb. 24. Wolf says the restaurant has changed its daily routine to prevent this from happening again.
'We take it really seriously,' he said. 'It won't happen anymore. We go through all the slips every night just to make sure nothing is fishy. We just really didn't expect one of our workers to be doing that, but when it happens, it makes you aware. Nobody should have to worry about it again, coming here.