N.Y. Bar Owner Arrested for Fraud

The owner of a Tompkins County, New York bar was arrested last week after authorities discovered she employed five people off the books, including a bouncer injured when he tried to escort a patron out of the bar.

Monica J. Todd, 42, of Groton, was charged with offering a false instrument for filing and committing a fraudulent practice. She was arrested by Investigator Gordon Saggese of the New York State Insurance Department's Frauds Bureau, assisted by the Tompkins County Sheriff's Department.

Saggese said that Todd, who operates the Roman Village Bar at 346 Locke Rd., filed fraudulent workers' compensation payroll reports with the State Insurance Fund saying that the bar had no employees other than herself as owner. Then on April 14, she filed an injury report with the Fund stating that she had hired a new employee who was hurt his first day on the job.

Saggese said an investigation revealed the employee, whose leg was injured in an altercation with a patron, had actually been employed by Todd as a bouncer for two years. Investigators found that the bouncer and four others were being paid off the books, Saggese said.

Todd could be sentenced to up to four years in prison if she is convicted. She was released in her own recognizance pending a hearing to be scheduled in the Town of Groton Court.