The former general manager of the now-defunct Turn Bar and Grill will have her turn in court this week after allegedly taking part in embezzling $70,000 from her ex-employers.
Robin Berard, who ran the Los Altos restaurant for nearly two years, has been charged with one felony count of embezzlement. She is set to be arraigned 9 a.m. Friday at the Superior Court of Santa Clara County courthouse in Palo Alto.
Berard was employed at Turn on and off as both general manager and owner-operator from its inception in June 2015 to its closure in July 2017.
According to a Los Altos Police Department press release issued earlier this month, the department received a tip about Berard’s involvement with the missing money and inventory in July 2017 – not long before Turn closed for good.
The investigation into the matter stretched more than a year. Los Altos Sgt. Brian Jeffrey said in this case, the length of the investigation reflected the nature of the crime.
“Any case involving financial transactions or money takes time to follow the money,” he said. “In this case, we had a business where goods, inventory and cash were being taken, so we needed to prove where the money’s coming from and where it’s going.”
Jeffrey added that the department also needed to issue several search warrants to get the information needed to make its case.
The Nov. 14 press release stated that Berard allegedly took part in the embezzlement – an indication that she didn’t act alone. Jeffrey said the department believed there was an accomplice, but a Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office official didn’t think they had sufficient evidence to prosecute the second individual.
Repeat offender
While Berard awaits her first court date, Santa Clara County court records show that this isn’t her first run-in with the law. In March 2011, she was charged with and convicted of one felony count of grand theft after stealing more than $35,000 from former employer Advanced Professionals – an insurance agency in San Jose. She spent nine months at the county’s Elmwood Correctional Facility and was ordered to pay restitution in the stolen amount.
Court documents also show that before she was convicted in San Jose, Berard served a 90-day sentence for an unrelated grand theft charge in Ada County, Idaho. Police reports indicate that she fled to Caldwell, Idaho, sometime after committing the crime in San Jose.
Turned upside down
Berard’s alleged embezzlement may shed some light on why Turn’s owners – Jim and Julie Otis – decided to shutter the restaurant. According to Santa Clara County tax records obtained by the Town Crier, the Otises struggled to pay the restaurant’s property taxes. From late 2016 through most of 2017, the Otises’ limited liability company for the restaurant – K and K Otis LLC – was hit with a number of county and state liens for tax delinquency amounting anywhere from a few hundred dollars to $12,000.
But even with the restaurant dissolved and Rustic House Oyster Bar and Grill now operating at its former site at 295 Main St., the Otises are still trying to absolve themselves and their former business of debt. In February, Turn’s food supply company – BiRite Foodservice Distributors – filed an abstract of judgment against the Otises’ LLC for more than $17,000 in owed payment.
When reached by the Town Crier, Jim Otis said he had no comment on the arrest of his former restaurant manager or Turn’s financial situation.
