A former manager of Ruths Chris Steakhouse in Garden City who pleaded guilty in January to embezzling more than $230,000 from the restaurant has been sentenced, county prosecutors said.
Barry Pearlstein, 70, of Orlando, Fla. was sentenced to two consecutive nine-month prison sentences. He must also repay $230,933.39 in restitution by civil judgment.
Pearlstein was arrested on Dec. 1, 2014 following a joint investigation between the district attorney’s office and the Nassau County Police Department’s Crimes Against Property Squad.
Upon firing Pearlstein from the restaurant in June 2014, Ruth’s Chris management conducted an internal investigation that found he embezzled funds meant for deposit on 511 occasions and filed false records to conceal the transactions.
Management then contacted the district attorney’s office, then led by U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City).
Pearlstein was initially charged with a felony count of grand larceny and 10 counts of falsifying business records and faced up to 15 years in prison.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Matthew Sotirhos, of the office’s Economic Crimes Bureau.
