Arrest in Maine as suspect in Scarpa’s check theft case

Restaurant missing more than $100,000 in funds

On Sunday, Oct. 13, Teresa J. Lessa, 50, of North Port, was arrested at Bangor International Airport in Maine after Bangor police learned she was a passenger on an inbound plane, according to Sgt. Jason McAmbley, public information officer for the Bangor Police Department.

Lessa was wanted on an extraditable governor’s warrant from Florida. The order came from the Florida State Attorney’s Office, which has not yet made the order public.

According to co-owner Ashley Scarpa, the suspect is a former employee of Scarpa’s Coastal restaurant in Boca Grande. Scarpa was closed after flooding during Hurricane Helene and is undergoing reconstruction.

Lessa remains in Maine at the Penobscot County Jail, according to the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office.

“Teresa Lessa is in our custody, being held solely on an extradition warrant from Florida,” a Penobscot Sheriff’s spokesperson said. “For security reasons, I cannot release transportation information about prisoners in our custody.” Under Maine law, the jurisdiction that issued the warrant has 30 days to pick up the person in custody.

At the time of an initial police report on April 16, 2024, the Scarpas were notified by bank employees and an accountant of more than 50 fraudulent transactions totaling $47,548.77. They later found out the total was more than $100,000, according to incident report 24185928. The report stated that Ashley had contacted her manager about the checks, who did not sign them, and that Scarpa had filed a “fraud declaration” with the bank . ”

At the time, Ashley Scarpa completed an affidavit and signed a wish to prosecute affidavit with Lt. Mike Sawicki, who responded to the restaurant in reference to what is listed as a “cheque fraud and voicing a complaint of counterfeit instruments.”

“This has shocked my entire staff because never in a million years did we expect that this is what we would have discovered when it was all said and done,” said owner Ashley Scarpa, reached by phone Tuesday, Oct. 1. 15. ‘She’s actually been with us since day one. And she was a key contributor. She was one of our main bartenders.”

Ashley and her husband Glenn had attributed the lack of income to the recovery from Hurricane Ian.

“We have accountants who do our books,” Ashley said. “I have a manager myself. It has passed us all by. We write checks to all of our servers, our bartenders, our hostesses and bus drivers every night because the majority of our tips come in the form of credit cards. So we write checks every night, so hundreds of checks come out of our account every month. And it is not unusual for a server that works six or seven nights a week to have multiple checks.”

In December 2023, Lessa was fired from her position for unrelated reasons, Ashley said. In 2023, Ashley Scarpa said they gave the suspect a loan and she made payments to them.

In April 2024, the Scarpas’ accountant called them to discuss taxes, and that’s when they first realized something was wrong. “Glenn and I were immediately like, ‘Something is wrong, it’s impossible. You must have done these numbers wrong,” Ashley said.

“After we let her go in December, she texted us and said, ‘I love you guys.’ I still want to pay the balance I owe you. I will deliver the payments here or there,” Ashley said.

It took time to resolve the situation as the checks were used in mobile deposits. Those checks required subpoenaing the IP addresses from which the mobile deposits were made, which took months.

“It was after Helene when the sheriff called me and said her arrest warrant should go into effect today,” Ashley said. “I’m sitting in my house. I get a text from my bartender, Lori. Lori has a friend who was also a regular at our bar, who was on a plane on the runway leaving Punta Gorda for Bangor, Maine.

It was reportedly Lessa on the run. Ashley Scarpa said she called Bangor police, who verified they had the power to extradite. The suspect was removed from the plane on October 13 and arrested in Bangor, Maine, and is now inmate 836330.

“I’m now waiting to be contacted by the person who will supposedly represent restitution on our behalf, on behalf of the state, but Glenn and I have said goodbye to that money,” she said.

The situation has become even more difficult following the flooding and destruction caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Ashley Scarpa had not made the information about the suspected theft and the situation of the restaurant public until an arrest was made. She said it “just gave a little bit more insight into why we’re in the position we’re in, because we’ve been dealing with this over the last year as well.”