Former Pocatello restaurant server charged with stealing from customers sentenced

UPDATE

At a hearing Tuesday, 43-year-old Samantha Nova Wolff pleaded guilty to a single amended misdemeanor charge for petit theft as part of a plea agreement. In exchange, the Bannock County Prosecutor’s Office dismissed all 58 felony charges, court record shows.

During the same hearing, Magistrate Judge Scott Axline sentenced Wolff to 60 days in jail, with 46 days suspended and 14 days credit for time served.

Additionally, Wolff received one year of probation and $511.36 in fees, fines and restitution.

ORIGINAL STORY

POCATELLO — A woman police say stole small amounts of money from dozens of customers between January and March has been charged with 58 felonies.

Samantha Nova Wolff, 43, faces 29 counts of fraud and 29 counts of grand theft, court records show.

Pocatello police received a report on May 14 of numerous thefts, according to an affidavit of probable cause. The reporting party, a manager at a local restaurant, told officers she was looking into an issue reported by a customer found that Wolff, a former employee, had altered customers’ credit card tips to take more money than was given.

At the time of her reporting, the manager told officers she had gone through Wolff’s receipts between Jan. 8 and March 19 and found $103.86 in thefts, the affidavit says.

The manager said that Wollf’s customers were writing a tip on the restaurant’s receipt but Wolff was reporting a different tip total. She discovered the thefts when a customer called to say that she had not left a tip but was charged an amount greater than the amount listed on her receipt.

As part of their investigation, officers examined receipts themselves. According to the affidavit, officers found 29 separate transactions completed by Wolff for amounts greater than what was written by the customers.

Wolff, who was fired from the restaurant when the thefts were discovered, was arrested and taken to Bannock County Jail, where she was booked and is being held on a $10,000 bond.

Though Wolff has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean she committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.

If she is found guilty, Wolff would face up to 551 years in prison.