The former general manager of the Key West Yacht Club, who had legal troubles in 2016 as co-owner of the now-closed Michaels restaurant, was arrested Nov. 5 for allegedly stealing $10,000 to $20,000 worth of money and wine from the Key West Yacht Club while employed as its general manager. Wilson and his wife also had been members of the yacht club, where their personal account was also in arrears, according to police documents.
Wilson’s list of charges grew on Nov. 9, after he was released on bail from the theft arrest. On Nov. 9, he was again arrested, this time for allegedly threatening to “come and shoot” three of the witnesses in the theft case, and “shoot the place up,” referring to the Key West Yacht Club, 2315 N. Roosevelt Blvd., states the latest arrest affidavit, which charges Wilson with “tampering with or harassing a witness, victim or informant.”
Wilson allegedly made these threats by phone from a Lower Keys restaurant, where he had taken a new job. Officers spoke with two employees of the yacht club and its Commodore Peter Batty, who were “visibly upset” when they learned of the threats against them personally and against the yacht club.
“Batty said that Wilson owns guns and knows where he lives. Batty stated that his and other families (children) are at the yacht club often and this was very concerning for him. Batty stated that he did think Wilson was capable of carrying out these threats,” the affidavit states.
Another employee who was mentioned in Wilson’s threats, told police he had blocked Wilson from all social media accounts and from his cell phone “because Wilson wants to keep talking to him about the case and making threatening statements toward witnesses in the case,” the affidavit states.
Wilson remained in Monroe County Detention Center as of Monday, Nov. 14 on a $75,000 bond for the witness-tampering case.
“Due to the ongoing legal case, we have been advised not to comment, other than to say, we immediately addressed the issue when discovered, and have implemented policies to hopefully prevent future problems,” Yacht Club Commodore Peter E. Batty told the Keys Weekly on Monday, Nov. 14.
A chef by trade, Wilson was a partner in the former Michaels restaurant, a popular, upscale eatery in Key West’s Old Town. Wilson was previously arrested in November 2016 for failing to pay about $62,000 in sales tax to the state of Florida. Michaels restaurant closed around the same time.
Wilson was allowed to resign from the yacht club in early October, as the Key West Police Department opened a fraud investigation into his alleged theft of cash from a safe, 197 bottles of wine and unauthorized use of the yacht club credit card for personal expenses.
The total amount of the alleged theft is between $10,000 and $20,000, police documents state.
Wilson also reportedly had borrowed money from yacht club employees and was having deductions taken out of each paycheck to either repay personal uses for the credit card, or to square up his personal account as a yacht club member, the documents state.
