An armed robbery at a popular chain restaurant in downtown Boston last week was staged, officials said Monday, announcing the arrest of an employee and his ex-wife's son.
The pair were identified as conspirators after the employee of the Cava on Summer Street gave statements inconsistent with what surveillance video showed and that footage helped investigators identify the other man, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office. They then realized that the two men live at the same location in Charlestown.
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"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. This concocted incident instilled fear in our community and used up police time and resources that could have been dedicated elsewhere," District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a statement.
The armed robbery at Cava, a popular Mediterranean restaurant chain with locations around Boston, was reported after 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 29, Boston police have said. A man told officers he was robbed at gunpoint while closing the restaurant for the night, with the robber taking cash and fleeing on foot.
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Prosecutors shared more details Monday, saying that the employee, 37-year-old Scott Douglas, told police he felt a hard, metal object pressed into the back of his head and that an unknown person was holding a black AR-15-style rifle. He was walked to the safe in the back and gave away about $1,800 in cash from the drawers and a black deposit bag, then told to face away as the armed man ran off.
But surveillance footage from nearby showed a man with an entirely different description go into the restaurant when Douglas was seen opening it, then run out at 10:31 p.m. and running toward the Chinatown MBTA station, prosecutors said. They noted that person was the only one seen inside or even in the area at the time the robbery was reported.
Officers who work in the area were given still images of the man seen running out of the Cava and they identified him as Nickolas Lao, 19. When his address was checked, they found he and Douglas lived at the same place, and that Lao's mother is Douglas' ex-wife — the pair still live together, according to prosecutors.
Police said Monday that the pair were arrested Friday, saying their detectives found that the robbery and suspect that had been reported to them did not exist. The department called Lao Douglas' son.
Douglas and Lao were arraigned in Boston Municipal Court Friday on charges of larceny and conspiracy; Lao was ordered held on $5,000 bail and Douglas $10,000 and both must wear GPS monitors upon their release, prosecutors said.
It wasn't immediately clear if either had an attorney who could speak to the charges.
