BOSTON — A Cava employee is accused of staging an armed robbery along with his stepson at the Downtown Crossing restaurant while he worked there last month, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said Monday.
Scott Douglas, 37, of Charlestown, is charged with larceny over $1,200, conspiracy, and false reporting of a crime. Judge Richard Sinnott ordered Douglas held on $10,000 bail with GPS monitoring upon release following his arraignment in Boston Municipal Court on Friday, Hayden said in a statement.
Nickolas Lao, 19, of Charlestown, is charged with larceny over $1,200 and conspiracy. Sinnott ordered Lao held on $5,000 bail with GPS monitoring upon release.
At about 10:34 p.m. on Dec. 29, Boston police responded to an armed robbery in progress at CAVA at 125 Summer St.
Officers met with a store employee, later identified as Douglas, who reported he had been robbed at gunpoint while closing the restaurant for the night, Hayden said.
Douglas initially told police he felt a hard metal object being pressed against the back of his head and noticed a black AR-15 style rifle being held by an unknown male, Hayden said.
Douglas told police the man led him to the safe located in the back of the store. Douglas gave the man all the cash in the drawers, a black deposit bag full of cash, and several rolls of coins from the safe, totaling approximately $1,800, Hayden said. Douglas then said the man ordered him to face away while he ran out of the store.
Douglas gave responding officers a description of the suspect.
Video surveillance showed a man with a completely different description as the one given by Douglas, and that man walked into the restaurant as Douglas simultaneously opened the door, Hayden said.
At 10:31 p.m. the man is seen leaving the restaurant and fleeing toward the MBTA Chinatown Station at Washington and Boylston streets, the video surveillance showed.
Investigators said based on video footage, the suspect was the only other person inside the restaurant or around the immediate area at the time of the robbery, Hayden said.
Douglas met with officers several days after the purported robbery. He gave statements to investigators that were “inconsistent with his initial statement and video footage from inside the restaurant,” Hayden said.
Photographs of the unknown male caught on camera were distributed to officers in the area. Police later identified the man as Lao.
Investigators found that both Lao and Douglas are listed as living at the same address in Charlestown. Investigators soon learned that Lao is the son of Douglas’ ex-wife, with whom Douglas still resides.
Police sought and obtained arrest warrants for Douglas and Lao.
“We too often see employees who think they can fool police and their employers for their own illicit gain but end up fooling only themselves,” Hayden said. “This concocted incident instilled fear in our community and used up police time and resources that could have been dedicated elsewhere.”
Both men will return to court on Jan. 31 for pre-trial hearings.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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