Thief uses thunderstorm’s help to steal from restaurant

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LEE COUNTY, Fla.- A brazen break-in at a local restaurant resulted in hundreds of dollars in food gone.

It happened Monday at Minerva’s Bar and Grill near Gladiolus Drive and Summerlin Road during the restaurant’s busiest time of day.

Owner Minerva Cazac says a thunderstorm helped the crook get away with the crime.

“My first reaction is unbelievable.”

Cazac says someone broke the lock of a freezer behind the restaurant and walked away with more than $600 worth of steak and seafood. It all happened sometime between 5 p.m.- 8 p.m., while the dining room was full of customers.

“People was in the dining room, it was cooking, it was busy, very busy,” said Cazac.

Cazac says her husband normally comes in and out of the restaurant to make trips to the freezer, but this time he stayed inside to avoid the heavy rain and lightning.

Cazac believes it must have been somebody who knows the restaurant well and she has an idea who it is.

“A guy I just fired for stealing again and drinking on the job.”

The restaurant has since replaced the lock with a better one. As for the stolen food, “I gotta go buy some today and the seafood just came in today so yes we have to buy,” said Cazac.

She says in her five and a half years at this location, this is the first time something like this has happened.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating.

 

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