Former Manager Of Vinsetta Garage Charged With Embezzling $100K

BERKLEY (WWJ) -- The former manager of a popular metro Detroit restaurant was recently brought up on embezzlement charges.

Jeffrey Wells, the 29-year-old former manager of Vinsetta Garage in Berkley, pleaded guilty on February 10 to embezzling more than $100,000 from the restaurant, which is located south of Catalpa Dr. on Woodward Ave.

Restaurant co-owner Curt Catallo told WWJ Newsradio 950 that his first instinct now is to not trust anyone, but then he realized he had to move past it.

"We're very fortunate that we have a lot of great people working at Vinsetta Garage," Catallo said. "Just because a member of the family kind of let us down doesn't mean that everybody who works with us isn't somebody we should trust. If we lose trust in everybody, then we lose more than $100,000 because we've lost something that's very core to what we do."

Wells will be sentenced on March 30. Catello said Wells was on vacation in Europe when investigators discovered the crime.

"That's what hurt the most -- this was a family member who hurt us," Catallo said.