Hops & Dough owner arrested in Missouri, charged with stealing $21K in TVs, equipment

Rick Neale | Florida Today

Show Caption Hide Caption Hops & Dough owner plans to reopen March 27 Owner Tara Zysset tells her side of the story concerning the closing of her restaurant. Video by Tim Shortt. Posted 3/26/17.

Update: 11:10 a.m. Thursday

Tara Zysset was booked at the Brevard County Detention Facility at 9:34 p.m. Wednesday, and she was released on $25,000 bond at 4:11 a.m. Thursday, sheriff’s records show.

No court dates have been scheduled yet in her case, Brevard County Clerk of Courts records show.

Original story:

INDIAN HARBOUR BEACH — The owner of Hops & Dough stole $21,476 in televisions and kitchen equipment from her leased storefront, then moved to Missouri to open a new restaurant with her ex-fugitive boyfriend, Indian Harbour Beach Police Chief David Butler alleges.

Tara Zysset was arrested Monday in Fayette, Missouri, a small college town roughly 25 miles northwest of Columbia. Indian Harbour Beach police had issued a bench warrant seeking her arrest for grand theft, Butler said.

Zysset took seven 50-inch Hitachi televisions, four 43-inch Magnavox televisions, one 65-inch Vizio television and a stand-up freezer, prep table and deep fryer, among other appliances, electronics and furniture, according to a police report.

Zysset and David Cook, the Hops & Dough manager and Zysset's on-and-off boyfriend, intended to open a bar-pizzeria called The Eagle's Eye, Fayette Police Chief Jeff Oswald said. The couple moved in together at the downtown site on South Main Street, Butler said.

"There's a small university here in Fayette — Central Methodist University — and the mascot is the Eagle. So I don't know if they're trying to get an angle there with that," Oswald said.

"It's a weird setup. There's a bar on one side, and evidently they've kind of made the other side of the structure into a living quarters, which is against city ordinance," he said.

Zysset was booked in the Howard County (Missouri) Jail at 8:11 p.m. Monday, Sheriff Mike Neal said. She was released on bond, and she must surrender at the Brevard County Detention Facility by noon Thursday, Brevard County Sheriff's Office spokesman Tod Goodyear said.

Hops & Dough had a brief, turbulent history. The beachside restaurant abruptly shut down in March, and some employees were owed hundreds — or thousands — of dollars in unpaid wages.

Days later, Cook was arrested at Zysset's Melbourne home on a fugitive warrant. He was declared an absconder in June 2014 from probation supervision with the Missouri Department of Corrections — and a former Hops & Dough worker tipped off beachside police that Cook was operating under a phony name, Butler said.

After Cook was jailed, Zysset vowed to reopen the restaurant.

"Now that we have gotten rid of the rotten apple in the bunch, we're trying to make things right and fix things. And I'm just hoping that our community gives us a second chance," Zysset told FLORIDA TODAY in late March.

Hops & Dough switched its name to Stella's, but, on May 16, the restaurant closed because of "unexpected technical difficulties," according to a post on the eatery's Facebook page.

Then on May 17, the Indian Harbour Beach Fire Marshal's Office issued a stop work order for city code violations.

Zysset was subleasing the 630 E. Eau Gallie Blvd. storefront and various interior furnishings from Lou Manzella, who owned the former WiseGuys A Chicago Eatery.

The night of May 21, he looked through the windows of the restaurant — and all the televisions he had leased to Zysset were missing from the walls, an Indian Harbour Beach police narrative states.

Manzella called police the next day and provided an affidavit of ownership that listed the missing items, accompanied with purchase receipts.

Indian Harbour Beach Police Detective Lisa German called Zysset, and Zysset said that she had bought those items, Butler said.

"Lisa said, 'Show me some receipts, because I've got some receipts here saying that somebody else bought them.' And (Zysset) pretty much backtracked a little bit — and we couldn't get ahold of her again," Butler said.

"These people have a background of not telling the truth, and dirty business. Personally, I'm glad they aren't in Indian Harbour anymore," Butler said.

Fayette City Administrator/City Clerk Robin Triplett said a business license application for The Eagle's Eye was submitted on May 5.

Oswald said his department's investigation into The Eagle's Eye remains active.

Zysset could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Back in Indian Harbour Beach, Manzella said Zysset still owes him an unpaid water bill exceeding $3,500.

"There's a lot of bad people in this world. And you never know when you're going to run into them," Manzella said.

Contact Neale at 321-242-3638, rneale@floridatoday.com or follow RickNeale1 on Twitter