BERLIN — A meat supply company filed charges last week against a former butcher shop owner for allegedly issuing bad checks on the heels of an ongoing investigation in Ocean City alleging theft of meat from a grocery store.
C&C Meat Sales formally filed charges last week against former Berlin Butcher Shop owner Lisa Hall, a former town councilmember, alleging she wrote checks for meat deliveries at the now defunct store in Berlin knowing there were insufficient funds to pay them. C&C Meats alleges in the charging documents Hall wrote a check for one delivery in April totaling $2,836 and another in May totaling $2,415, both of which were returned for non-sufficient funds. The meat purveyor alleges attempts to have Hall make good on the bounced checks have been unsuccessful.
As a result, the District Court of Maryland in Worcester County has issued a criminal summons for Hall, charging her with four counts of passing checks with insufficient funds and two counts of felony theft from $1,000 to under $10,000. The charging documents allege Hall signed both checks, which were later returned for insufficient funds. The meat company sent a certified letter to Hall, which she signed and acknowledged receipt, but has failed to make good on the two checks totaling over $5,000. A preliminary hearing has been set for Sept. 29.
The latest charges against Hall come amid an investigation in Ocean City into her alleged theft of cases of meat from the Acme grocery store. According to Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officials, Hall in recent months had been buying cases of various meat products from the Acme store and then reselling it retail at her Berlin shop.
In late August, however, it came to light Hall was allegedly picking up the meat orders from Acme and not paying. In those cases, store cashiers, uncertain if Hall had made prior arrangements, allowed Hall to leave the store without paying.
Charges are still pending, according to OCPD Public Information Officer Lindsay Richard this week. Richard said “the investigation became a little more complicated” and the investigating officer was working to finalize his case before meeting with the State’s Attorney’s Office. Meanwhile, the Berlin Butcher Shop was evicted from its William Street space for not paying rent last month.
