A South Florida restaurant owner is speaking out after surveillance video tipped off his staff about a tip jar thief who pulled off a sneaky steal — even after the manager on duty had agreed to pay for his meal.
The security footage captures an elderly man putting his hand into the jar at Hermanos Cantina Grill in Coral Gables — not once, but three times — Tuesday morning.
Dennis Fernandez, the owner and chef of the restaurant located at 2209 Ponce De Leon Blvd., spoke with 7News on Wednesday.
“While [our manager] was cooking his food, he was stealing from her,” he said.
The surveillance video captures the elderly man grabbing as many bills as he could, while the manager, Dayami, was making his meal for free.
“So imagine. This is really sad,” said Fernandez.
Fernandez said Dayami had offered the man a free meal because he said he was struggling.
“And doing an act for him, with her money. He came with the excuse that ‘I need a job.’ Then he said that he doesn’t have money and appeared to be somebody that needed food,” he said.
Fernandez is not sure how much the tip grabber stole
“Anywhere from a dollar to $10 to $20, because [Dayami] has to [grab] change sometimes to get change for the cashier,” he said.
Fernandez said said he didn’t report the thief to police, but he warns the community to be on the lookout for this man.
“He approaches the tip jars and pretends that he’s, you know, ‘Hey, how are you doing?’” he said.
Fernandez hopes this man learns his lesson.
“That he doesn’t have to steal from workers that spend eight, 10 hours working to feed their families,” he said.
The restaurant’s staff said they’re going to replace the tip jar with one that locks. As for the elderly man caught on camera, they said he’s more than welcome to come to eat at their restaurant, but stealing is a no-no.
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