BONITA SPRINGS — When Lee deputies and state agents raided Bonita Springs restaurant Buffalo Chips in March and arrested four employees, it seemed a staggering blow to the eatery.
Allegations of drug sales on the restaurant floor were damning, and the resulting loss of its alcohol license promised to drain business.
Not quite.
The restaurant returned to business one day after the raid; it regained its alcohol license nine days later. Today’s numbers are where they should be, manager Chip Greenwood said, and everyone anticipates a strong season.
But the road was rough, it was costly, and it isn’t over yet, he said.
“Everybody’s still in shock,” Greenwood remarked. “Little ladies are coming back from Iowa saying, ‘Where’s Mattie? I want a hug!’ We have to tell them he’s in the big house.”
‘Mattie’ is Matt Rutkowski, a bartender and longtime employee arrested in the raid. Detectives described Rutkowski as the point man for 13 undercover buys at Buffalo Chips over six weeks, dishing out marijuana and cocaine and boasting about his supply of the drugs, which he called “green” and “white.”
Deputies arrested three kitchen workers in the raid, alleging they helped fill Rutkowski’s cocaine orders: Angelo Gutierrez, 46, a kitchen manager; Juan Vasquez, 39, a cook; and Paulo Vasquez, 29, another cook.
The raid wounded Buffalo Chips financially, Greenwood said. Between the loss of business and the cost of regaining an alcohol license, the restaurant lost some $50,000, a blow to its cushion for summer, when business is slack.
“It was stressful, but we got through,” Greenwood said.
Meanwhile, court cases continue for all suspects but Paulo Vasquez. The young cook pleaded to one count of felony cocaine possession and received 60 days’ time served in jail. Adjudication was withheld in his case.
Juan Vasquez remains on bond pending a resolution to his six felony counts of cocaine possession and distribution. Gutierrez is charged with seven felony counts of cocaine possession and distribution and also is on bond.
Editor's note
One of a series of stories looking at people and issues that were in the local news in 2010, though not lately. Have an idea? Post it below this story at naplesnews.com or call (239) 435-3457 and leave a brief message.
Rutkowski remains jailed on the most serious slate of charges, some 20 felony counts and two misdemeanors, all for alleged possession and distribution of marijuana and cocaine. The counts sum to a combined maximum of 200 years in prison, two years in jail and $152,000 in fines upon conviction. He is scheduled for trial in January.
The bartender’s arrest was particularly painful, Greenwood said. Customers liked Rutkowski and management trusted him. By the time background checks and drug tests became industry norms for new hires, he was already known to the company, Greenwood said.
“I didn’t do a background checks for guys working for me for 15 years,” he explained.
Buffalo Chips is now requiring random drug tests of employees. The restaurant also hired another manager to help with “hiring and firing,” Greenwood said.
Allegations about the brazenness of the deals were embarrassing for the restaurant. Undercover deputies claimed managers were never far from the transactions, many of which occurred across the bar, according to reports. During one buy, Al Greenwood was described as standing 10 feet away, close enough to spy the swap of drugs and money had he looked in the right direction.
In another allegation, a tipster warned Chip Greenwood about the sales, but the manager never took action.
Chip Greenwood denied that allegation, and he said neither he nor his father ever saw a transaction take place. The restaurant’s policies weren’t bad before the raid, he said, and they’ve been strengthened since.
“We just had a few bad eggs, really,” he said.
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Comments » 10
itmattershere writes:
Best wings, could care less, just don't shoot!! Best wings.
cozyboy writes:
good wings but of course they raised the prices about 6 months ago.
grouper25 writes:
three of the four arrested were Hispanics. Next NDN will be running a series on the plight of the illegal kitchen workers.
Bush, Obama, and Janet should be indicted for letting this get so far out of hand.
w00tw00t writes:
they lost $50,000? Why not just claim it was because of the oil spill and sue BP? Seems to work for hack liars in real estate, hair, and jewelry stores everywhere.
Davidh239 writes:
Not necessarily, had 10 to go last week and they were as hairy as ever. At a buck a wing they can afford to clean the place more frequently and do a little better at "dressing" the wings.
Will I go back ? Of course !
malcolmlandry writes:
I can't beleive they have not bailed out their bartender. He must have worked there for over a decade. Al and Chip are filthy ungrateful thugs for not bailing their dealer out. They could easily bail him out through a middle man and avoid it looking like they where providing bailment for their dealer. Let's not forget the citizens of Bonita Springs paid Chip and Al $50,000.00 (thanks Ben Nelson) to build a new swimming pool at their home. You can still go behind the Chips and get dirty loving for twenty bucks. It is amazing that they can be so cheap as to allow a trailer park full of rent girls to be running behind their bar. The rent girl park can't earn them more then 5K a week. Why they would let that jeopordize their more legitimate business is beyond me.
bigloo writes:
If 'Buffalo Chips' is related to 'Cow Chips', who the heck would want to eat anything in that place? Sounds to me like maybe the Po-Lice have been "looking the other way" for a long, long time...but then again, we're talking Bonita Springs, where the 'koppers' all know that half the drivers are illegals with no insurance and counterfeit identification, not to mention the big time existence of illegal activity in prostitution and other perfectly acceptable criminal behavior...as is florishing in Ciudado Jaurez! You don't want to be traveling the 'Old 41" corridor after dark and have your vehicle break down; they'd never find your body!
Iseeyouon41 writes:
NO SALE OF DRUGS, SO WE RAISED THE PRICES ON OUR WINGS
rags123 writes:
There is an old Roman saying: "Who is watching the regulators."
Of course they were referring to the Pretorian Guard.
Who was and is watching the store?
BonitaSprings1 writes:
malcolmlandry writes:
I can't beleive they have not bailed out their bartender. He must have worked there for over a decade. Al and Chip are filthy ungrateful thugs for not bailing their dealer out. They could easily bail him out through a middle man and avoid it looking like they where providing bailment for their dealer. Let's not forget the citizens of Bonita Springs paid Chip and Al $50,000.00 (thanks Ben Nelson) to build a new swimming pool at their home. You can still go behind the Chips and get dirty loving for twenty bucks. It is amazing that they can be so cheap as to allow a trailer park full of rent girls to be running behind their bar. The rent girl park can't earn them more then 5K a week. Why they would let that jeopordize their more legitimate business is beyond me.
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Thanks Malcolm for the reminder.
BC owners did get thousands of taxpayer dollars from city grant backed by Nelson.
Based on post-drug-bust comments of bloggers, can we assume the enterprise dwindled to only the sale of hairy wings & hookers?
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