An Ex-Bartender Spills About Having a Con Man as a Boss
(‘Past Lives,’ Forensic Files)
Everyone has a story about a crazy boss, but few have worked for a grave robber who faked his own death — and became the subject of a Forensic Files episode.
After serving his time for fraud convictions related to his failed scheme to collect $7 million in insurance funds, Connecticut financial adviser Madison Rutherford started using “Bey” as his first name and opened Bey’s Sports Bar in Columbia, South Carolina.
Maybe the place seemed like paradise compared with the federal lockup where Rutherford served his time, but even the beer-swilling college kids who helped keep Bey’s in business bristled at the unsanitary conditions there.
Bey’s shuttered in 2013, but a former bartender named Lex — who asked that only her first name appear in print — recently talked to ForensicFilesNow.com about her wild ride at the sports bar:
Were most of the customers students? A group of guys between 21 and 35 who were called the wolfpack started going to Bey’s. Some underage people drank there. I had just turned 22 when I started working there.
Madison Rutherford conned a lot of people over his lifetime. Was he charming? No, he was mission-bound. Every time he came in, he did what he had to do and left. He was standoffish with girls. He was an alpha toward guys.
Did he seem legit? He seemed like what a crime boss was, for a lack of a better phrase. I heard that everything was under his dad’s name.
Did you know about his past? We all knew about his Forensic Files episode, but I didn’t watch it until later. We knew he wasn’t a good person, but there was something almost attractive about how he would just do what he wanted. The bar was wild west.
Is it true that he stole his employees’ tips? On St. Patrick’s Day, I worked early morning until 1 a.m. the next day. I made about $200 in tips. We pooled all tips and agreed we would split them evenly. He took them into the dishwashing room and took out whatever he wanted for himself. He took about half our tips.
What did you think when you finally watched the Forensic Files episode? Just very justified in thinking he was a crappy person.
What was the bar like toward the end? By 2013, we started seeing Bey a lot less. Business dropped. We had a manager who really tried to keep the bar afloat but we almost never saw Bey. Business just dropped and dropped and no one wanted to work there or go there.
Do you have any fond memories of Bey’s? Even though it was working for this crazy bar for a crazy person, it was truly one of the most fun times. There was music. I met lots of people there. The experience I had at that bar was a diamond in the rough.♠
That’s all for this post. Until next time cheers. — RR
Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube
Read the recap of the episode
