A manager at a Pennsylvania Wendy's invented a fake employee and pocketed wages of $20,000, police say

• The ex-manager of a Pennsylvania Wendy's made up a fake employee to pocket extra wages, police say.
• She manually clocked the "ghost employee" in and out for 128 shifts, police said.

A former general manager of a Wendy's restaurant in Pennsylvania who police said made up a fake employee so she could pocket their wages has been charged with theft by deception.

Linda Johnson created a "ghost employee" named William Bright, whom she clocked in and out at the outlet she managed in Lancaster, the Manheim Township Police Department said last week.

Johnson kept up the scheme for close to a year, during which time she manually logged 128 shifts for the fake worker who was paid $19,898 between June 2021 and May last year, the police department said.

Multiple employees said that they could not recall ever working with someone called Bright, police said.

In April, Johnson admitted to a police officer that she added Bright as an employee and created shifts he didn't work, police said.

Police said that the paychecks were deposited into her Cashapp account.

The restaurant's insurer paid out almost $16,000 for the incident, Lancaster Online reported.

Johnson was charged with one count of theft by deception on July 7 and a criminal case was filed a week later. At the time of the Manheim Township Police Department's release on July 20, Johnson's whereabouts were unknown and the department made an appeal to the public for any information.

Wendy's didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.