Massachusetts butcher shop loses $60,000, stolen credit card used to buy 5,000 pounds of meat
NORTH ANDOVER - Eva's Farm Butcher Shop in North Andover is the kind of family-owned store that will save a customer the last dozen eggs, where people come daily to get their dinner meats, and the owner knows them by name. "This place is awesome, they have the best customer service, they have the best meats ever," one customer told WBZ enthusiastically.
But the generosity of father Robert Alonzo and daughter Eva was recently taken advantage of, they tell WBZ, leading the Butcher Shop to be in serious financial distress.
It all started when a group of men placed an order before the holidays to "provide meals for homeless people and homeless shelters," Eva explained. "We love giving back to our community, so we saw this opportunity and we jumped on it."
Over 5,000 pounds of meat ordered
The order, though, was unusual - the men asked for 700 pounds of oxtail and 700 pounds of short ribs. They didn't want to go through a big chain and wanted a small shop to secure the meat for them. "I said, 'you've got to pay me first,'" Roberto explained. "It's a big amount and I cannot afford that. And they said, 'no problem, I will give you the credit card.'"
The credit card cleared, and the Alonzos did the hard work of securing 1400 pounds of meat. Just a week later, the men again requested more - this time, 2,000 pounds of meat. This was the biggest order the store had ever seen in its five years in this location.
For about a month, the men came and collected the meat and continued to pay, the Alonzos said. But shortly after the fourth and final order, when the shop had been cleaned out of over 5,000 pounds of meat, they knew something was wrong.
The store got a frantic call from someone out of state, "saying that we just charged the same amount of the people who came in on their credit card... And they said, 'I'm not from Massachusetts... I don't live in Massachusetts. I don't know how you got my credit card,'" Eva explained.
$60,000 on stolen credit cards
The Alonzos immediately reported the case to North Andover Police, who are investigating.
They showed WBZ a folder of disputed credit card statements. It turns out, the men had purchased $60,000 of meat on stolen credit cards.
$20,000 in holiday sales frozen
Now, the shop owes $60,000 back to the credit card company, and another $20,000 in holiday sales is frozen as they try to pick up the financial pieces. "It was just a straight feeling of betrayal," Eva said.
"Talking about these people," the dad added. "They were Spanish, like me... And they came in and shook my hand," he said through tears. The betrayal felt personal, he said. Alonzo started the butcher shop as an ode to his father, who owned a butchery in Argentina.
The family has not been able to pay their rent at the shop this month and tells WBZ their insurance claim was rejected.
"In this kind of situation, the person who got their money stolen gets it back no harm done," Eva said. "The person who stole the card... If there's no penalties by law-enforcement, they get away with it and there's no harm done to them... It's the middleman, which unfortunately is us, who's going to suffer."
Customers came in Wednesday to express their condolences and give the family their business after reading about the incident on social media.
North Andover Police say this is an open investigation.
