A Winter Haven man faces charges of Grand Theft and Scheming to Defraud after being caught on camera stealing money from customers at a local Zaxby’s in Winter Haven.
Clayten Brown, who was arrested July 23, 2024, was stealing money through cash transactions over a period of time. He stole thousands of dollars from customers who paid in cash.
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“PROBABLE CAUSE:
On July 12th, 2024 at approximately 1441 hours patrol officers were dispatched to Zaxby’s located at 797 3rd St. SW Winter Haven, FL 33880 in reference to a Grand Theft.
Contact was made with Vogal who stated that he is the HR Director for Polk Zaxbys, and he was made aware of an employee who was stealing cash from the restaurant. Vogal advised that on July 8th, 2024 the General manager of the Zaxbys location, Merryann Fralick had alerted him of an employee, Clayten Brown who she found stealing by reviewing camera footage. Vogal advised that he came to the store, and was shown the video my Fralick, and Clayten was immediately fired from the company. Vogal advised that when he spoke with Clayten about the incident, Clayten admitted to taking the money on that day, and advised he had done it one other time due to the stress of having a baby on the way with his girlfriend. Vogal advised that he also alerted the owner of the franchise, David Abbott, who then began going through financial transactions from all the locations he owns in Polk County. Vogal began looking at addition video and noticed Clayten had been stealing all cash transactions.
It was explained that when ordering at Zaxby’s, the food begins getting made as soon as the order starts being input into the computer system. By the time a customer gets to the drive-through window where payment is due, their food is complete and ready to be handed to the customer. Clayten was taking the cash from customers at the window, and instead of opening the cash register and making change, he was handing back change from his own pocket. Clayten would then void the transaction in the system which actually shows as the order was never placed, which is why the cash drawers were never short any money. Vogal explained that the average employee may void anywhere from $7 to $60 in food items per day, for various reasons. Vogal advised me that Clayten was voiding between $300 and $500 daily-
Merryann Fralick advised that on July 8th, 2024, she had a customer come inside for a refund. Fralick advised that the customer had gone through the drive through, and did not have a receipt for the meal they had purchased. Fralick informed me that it is Zaxby’s policy to only provide a refund when a receipt is provided for the purchase. Fralick advised, she then went to the register which was logged in to by Clayten Brown, and saw that the customer’s order had been completely voided. Fralick advised that when she asked Clayten about the voided order, he advised he did not know how the order got voided. Fralick advised that she then went to the office and began to review video footage. Fralick stated that this is when she saw that Clayten had taken the money from the customer, gave the customer their food, and pocketed the cash payment. Fralick advised you could also see in the video, Clayten select each order item on the screen which is how you void an order. Fralick advised that she believes Clayten had memorized the manager codes which allows you to void orders. Fralick advised that after discovering the theft, she contacted her supervision, and did not inform Clayten that she knew of the theft.
REDACTED, who worked shifts with Clayten advised that she had changed registers with Brown in exchange for $10. REDACTED advised that Clayten offered her $10 to swap from the drive through register to the lobby register one day. REDACTED advised that this was not a normal thing to happen, but that she accepted the $10 and traded registers with Clayten. REDACTED advised that she was unaware of any theft occurring within the store. REDACTED also advised that she knew Clayten slightly, but that they did not hangout outside of work. REDACTED advised she has been working with the company for over a year, and believes she started working there after Clayten.
Fralick and Vogal both have known Clayten for approximately a year and were able to identify him as the person in the video pocketing the cash that was provided from customers.
I was provided video and a PDF of voided transactions from employees.
While reviewing video, Clayten is seen accepting cash from the customer through the drive-through window.
Once Clayten takes the cash, he places it in his pocket and used cash he already has lying on the register or next to the register. On one occasion, Clayten is seen accepting the cash from the customer, removes a dollar bill from the cash provided by the customer, and handed the dollar bill back to the customer, while pocketing the rest of the cash.
While reviewing the PDF of voided transactions I noticed that Clayten was voiding out more transactions than all other employees he was working with. Below are the listed dates, voided transactions and amount of cash taken.
May 30th, 2024: 133 transactions: $346.42
June 3rd, 2024: 167 transactions: $444.50
June 5th, 2024: 133 transactions: $374.83
June 6th, 2024: 201 transactions: $544.47
June 8th, 2024: 170 transactions: $485.39
June 10th, 2024: 161 transactions: 5451.72
June 11th, 2024: 199 transactions: $577.30
June 12th, 2024: 209 transactions: 583.78
June 13th, 2024: 109 transactions: $343.06
June 16th, 2024: 127 transactions: $375.58
June 17th, 2024: 91 transactions: $228.11
June 19th, 2024: 184 transactions: $472.24
June 20th, 2024: 100 transactions: $260.47
June 23rd, 2024: 54 transactions: $154.36
June 24th, 2024: 94 transactions: $295.99
June 25th, 2024: 113 transactions: $311.48
June 27th, 2024: 63 transactions: $216.34
June 30th, 2024: 85 transactions: 5201.45
July 1st, 2024: 95 transactions: 5292.08
July 4th, 2024: 97 transactions: $242.70
July 8th, 2024: 23 transactions: $61.42
Total transactions: 2,6085
Total amount of money stolen: $7,263.66
Vogal advised that per ownership, if Brown had been doing this throughout his entire employment, this could be approximately $30,000 to 40,000 total in theft. Clayten was a part time employee, and he had been hired to work at the store on July 8th, 2023.
I collected recorded statements from all managers that had a code to void transactions. All managers advised they never gave Clayten their codes and Clayten never had permission to use their codes to void out orders without their knowledge.
Clayten was located at his residence located at REDACTED, Winter Haven, FL. Clayten was placed under arrest. While escorting Clayten to the patrol car Clayten spontaneously stated he takes full responsibility for what he did, but won’t take the blame for other people.
Based off all the information above, Clayten Brown is being charged with One (1) count of Grand Theft, and One (1) count of Scheming to Defraud.”
