The 12th Circuit State Attorney’s Office dropped the case involving credit card irregularities at the Island Time Bar and Grill.
The bar-restaurant’s former owner and manager filed reports in April 2017 with the Bradenton Beach Police Department alleging a former waiter of manipulating transactions by adding tips to bills paid by credit cards between December 2016 and February 2017.
The allegations led to the arrest of a John McKee, 49.
Prosecutors filed a grand theft case against McKee two months later.
In dropping the case in December 2017, a memo stated the state was unable to prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt because “the state’s main witness” would not testify against McKee.
The witness blamed the irregularities on a faulty connection between the restaurant computer and chip reader, the memo stated.