Cicis Pizza in Springfield closed after embezzlement investigation, lawsuit over back rent

"Closed for remodeling" signs lined the windows of Cicis Pizza at 319 E. Battlefield Road this month.

Passers-by who peeked past Cicis' window shades could see chairs turned up on tables, and stacks of plates and bowls. Most of the lights were off.

Carla Nations, former franchisee for the inexpensive pizza buffet's last remaining Springfield location, confirmed the closing.

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An interview with Nations, Greene County Circuit Court records and documents generated by a two-month Springfield police investigation show that the restaurant's closing wasn't a garden-variety business fail. It included a lawsuit over back rent and allegations of stealing.

Nations said her business relationship with Cicis Pizza ended in May when corporate leaders at Cicis' Texas headquarters chose to terminate the franchise agreement.

Then, her business relationship with her Springfield landlord ended.

On March 7, Battlefield Plaza LLC — owner of the shopping strip where the pizza buffet was located — sued Nations' company, Mozark Nations, Inc. for $7,216.35 in rent and other fees. That money was overdue for payment under the terms of the lease agreement, Battlefield Plaza said in public court filings.

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A judgment in the case was entered May 22 by Greene County Associate Circuit Judge Jerry Harmison. He ruled in favor of Battlefield Plaza. The shopping center is owned by Curtis Jared of the Springfield-based commercial real estate brokerage Jared Enterprises Inc.

Harmison's judgment ordered "immediate possession of the property" to revert to the landlord. Cicis was evicted.

Harmison also ordered Mozark Nations, Inc. to pay Battlefield Plaza $7,837.80 in unpaid rent, attorney's fees and court costs.

Nations disputed the notion that she was behind on rent when the eviction judgment was handed down.

"I've always been a good franchisee and always done well," Nations told the News-Leader.

Nations said that before the termination, her relationship with Cicis officials had soured for some months.

But that was not the extent of her troubles.

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Nations said that even as her franchise relationship was deteriorating, she learned that two of her on-site managers had allegedly been embezzling money from her business.

"I thought sales were going down because they weren't doing their job," Nations said.

But she alleged that the employees' actions were more than lackadaisical, so she made a police report on Dec. 1.

According to a probable cause statement, Nations told police that the store had been bringing in about $30,000 per month in revenue, which had slipped to $20,000 per month.

On Wednesday, Nations told the News-Leader the revenue amounts were $30,000 per week, slipping to $20,000 per week.

Four days after Nations visited the police department to make her report, a Springfield police detective began investigating the allegations, according to a Feb. 6 probable cause statement provided to the News-Leader Monday.

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That report states repeatedly that it appeared someone at Cicis was ringing in transactions, then deleting them soon afterward — a practice that seemed implausible for a buffet restaurant where guests pay before they eat.

Police interviewed six lower-ranking Cicis employees during the two-month investigation. Those employees said that they issued just a few refunds each week.

But the probable cause statement makes note of 123 cash register transactions that included "deletions," all of them logged under one manager's name between Sept. 11 and Nov. 26. The cleared transactions were worth $42,370, according to the report.

The other manager that Nations accused of embezzlement was tied to $4,889.94 in suspicious transactions over roughly the same period.

The managers — both of them fired by Nations in late 2017 — denied wrongdoing in interviews with police.

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The probable cause statement concludes, "due to the fact that everyone stated they could operate the register under someone else's name, and not having any video to verify the transactions, I cannot pin point (any) one person who is responsible for the loss."

On Feb. 22, the Greene County prosecutor's office declined to pursue the felony complaints against the two managers because evidence collected by police was "unable to show guilt beyond a reasonable doubt."

The News-Leader reached out Tuesday to Curtis Jared, owner of Battlefield Plaza, to learn if he has a new tenant for the former Cicis space and if he had any reaction to Nations' comments about whether she owed back rent, but has not yet received a response.

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