Beverly Man Accused Of Pay-For-Play Restaurant Reviews

BEVERLY, MA -- A Beverly man who runs a popular Facebook group for discussing and reviewing restaurants on the North Shore accepted gift cards in return for favorable reviews, according to a blog known for its biting commentary on Massachusetts news. In a three-part series of posts, Turtle Boy Sports also accused Greg Bates of being a deadbeat dad and published screenshots of documents that were purportedly part of his divorce proposal. Bates is the administrator of North Shore Eats, a Facebook group with more than 36,000 members.

Patch has reached out to Bates for comment on the accusations and will update this story if he gets back to us. In a Facebook post on Monday, Bates said he would post documentation showing he had made charitable donations he had claimed he made after raffling off gift cards, but also signaled he was unlikely to comment on the report further.

"Every cent is accounted for and I will post the list the second I get it. Many other accusations as well including that I shake down restaurants for gift cards, I created a scheme to avoid child support," Bates said. "None of this is true. I just wanted to let share with my members and since this now a legal matter I will not comment on it."

>>>Related: Peabody Woman Recounts Shakedown By North Shore Eats Founder

In addition to claims that Bates asked restaurants for two $25 gift cards per month, one of which he kept for personal use, Turtle Boy Sports published information about a lien for nonpayment of rent and reported that he spent 30 days in jail last year for failing to pay child support.

The report implied that Bates had remained unemployed so he could avoid child support payments. Turtle Boy Sports also published a screen shot of a document that it said was from his divorce proposal, in which Bates purportedly wrote "“sex is something important to me, if I don’t get it from her I will buy it and redo the weekly budget as needed.”

For more on this story, see Turtle Boy Sports. Never miss another local news story: Get free local news alerts right to your inbox.

Patch file photo by Shutterstock.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).