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Feb 06, 2024

DOT employee accused of stealing customers’ Wood

Newington police have arrested a state Department of Transportation employee who is accused of stealing thousands of dollars worth of Wood-n-Tap gift cards and loyalty cards. Newington police said

Newington police have arrested a state Department of Transportation employee who is accused of stealing thousands of dollars worth of Wood-n-Tap gift cards and loyalty cards.

Newington police said they arrested 34-year-old Calvin Ortique of Bloomfield, in connection with a gift and loyalty card larceny from the Hartford Restaurant Group’s Wood-n-Tap restaurants.

Police said Ortique, a former Newington resident, was involved in the theft of $20,000 worth of Wood-n-Tap gift cards and loyalty cards.

Hartford Restaurant Group, which owns and operates 10 Wood-n-Tap restaurants, said the amount Ortique is suspected of stealing is around $200,000 worth of gift card balances and loyalty rewards and around $20,000 was redeemed at up to seven Connecticut locations from May 2020 until earlier this year.

The company said the loss prevention department started investigating when customers started complaining that their card balances, ranging from $30 up to $700, had disappeared. Then the company reached out to Newington police about the breach.

Newington police said Ortique is suspected of obtaining information through a point-of-sale system that managed the loyalty and gift card numbers beginning in 2020 and Ortique, as well as others, are suspected of using some of the stolen card numbers on fraudulently created e-gift card images.

Phil Barnett, the co-CEO and co-founder of Hartford Restaurant Group, said in a statement that the gift cards affected were primarily those purchased during the 2020 holiday season and have PIN numbers on the back.

“This has been quite the undertaking for us and will have long-term effects,” Barnett said in a statement.

The company said that since the breach was discovered, the Hartford Restaurant Group has “implemented a number of new security measures to provide even more protection for its guests.”

“We understand that guests were disappointed and inconvenienced when they went to use their legitimate cards that had been unknowingly compromised,” Barnett said in a statement. “While we were investigating, we replaced funds on hundreds of cards as they were brought to our attention. Once we had the answers, including gift card numbers that were illegally obtained, we went to great lengths to contact guests and reload their cards.”

Ortique was charged with computer crimes in the first degree, forgery in the first degree, identity theft in the first degree, larceny in the first degree, and conspiracy to larceny in the first degree.

Officials from the state Department of Transportation said Ortique is a DOT employee and this is a pending matter.

Newington police are continuing to investigate and they are asking anyone with additional information to call the Newington Police at 860-666-8445.

They said guests of the Wood-n-Tap can check their gift card balances at woodntap.com, and those who believe they have been affected can contact Loss Prevention at Wood-n-Tap at [email protected].