A waitress has been fired from her job after she admitted writing a racist message on a receipt and falsely blaming it on Freestone County Sheriff’s Office employee, dispatcher Kateley Craig.
Freestone County Sheriff Jeremy Shipley didn’t fool around when he received a report last Monday night that a FCSO employee “had written a racist remark on a check against the Hispanic community” and given it to a waitress at the Fuji Japanese Steak House on West Waco Drive in Waco, Texas.
“As Sheriff of Freestone County, I wanted to personally make sure I received all the information pertaining to a complaint of this nature on one of my employees and that’s why it was me knocking on doors,” Sheriff Shipley wrote in a press release, emphasizing he “will not tolerate nor employ any person(s) that I know to be of [racist] mind or intentions.”
Sheriff Shipley went to the restaurant the following morning to speak with the restaurant owner and find out exactly what occurred. He said that it is very important to note that the restaurant’s owner was very helpful and willing to assist in any way possible.
With assistance from the McGregor Police Department, Sheriff Shipley reviewed surveillance video footage, compared the handwriting on the check against different known handwriting samples of his employee, and interviewed the waitress who made the allegations against the dispatcher.
“During the conversation with the waitress, the waitress confessed to writing the racial comment on the ticket herself due to being upset that day,” he said. “The waitress confirmed that she took the ticket book containing the ticket from the customers at the table, went into the restroom, and hand wrote, herself, on the receipt the racial comment.”
The waitress told Sheriff Shipley that she was sorry and that she didn’t know her false claim would create such a big problem. She did not reveal a motive for her false allegations of racism.
“The character and integrity of this employee and my office has been attacked based on a lie that spread through social media,” Sheriff Shipley said. “Our employee, and the immediate family, has received numerous hate messages from this fabricated lie.”
The sheriff thanked community members who have been supportive and said he hopes that those who attacked his employee, before the facts had been checked, would now apologize.
Meanwhile, the owner of the restaurant where the false allegations occurred has taken action of his own.
“We cannot tolerate racism and we will not tolerate falsely accusing someone of being racist,” stated the owner (who did not give his name).
He explained that he fired the waitress who forged the racist comment on the check, as well as the employee who posted the copy of the check on Facebook after she “refused to take it down” at management’s request.
The restaurant has suffered from loss of business and taken a hit to its reputation because of the false allegations, too, the owner said.
Sheriff Shipley is very upset about the waitress framing his employee, and the outrage that ensued.
“My employee did not deserve this, nor does my office or any law enforcement agency in this state or across America. This is a perfect time to remind people that, just because it’s on social media doesn’t make it true,” Sheriff Shipley explained.
Nicole Schaefer reporting
