A Penticton business owner reeling after he received an early morning call Monday about a theft at his restaurant.
Ronald Bee, owner of Burger55, said the thief entered the building on Front Street about 2:30 a.m. July 8 using a key to get in.
He said the thief ran around its perimeter to avoid security cameras and took the safe, which contained staff tips and more than $1,500 in cash.
READ MORE: Penticton RCMP narrowing down on B&E suspects
A security camera managed to catch the man’s side profile.
“I am hoping the RCMP’s more sophisticated equipment is able to get a profile of who it was,” said Bee, who added whoever broke in was familiar with the inside of his business.
The thief as he runs around does glance up in the direction of the camera pic.twitter.com/v1Zx945Hsn
— _Burger55_ (@burger_55) July 8, 2019
“My wife and I have owned Burger55 for just over one year. I’ve never even thought to pick up the safe. I thought that it was mounted to the floor. Sadly it wasn’t,” he said. “(The thief) came up to my office and knew exactly where he was going and took the safe with him.”
READ MORE: Another Penticton business broken into
Bee said he and his wife are thankful they installed security cameras last week. He said he has flooded social media with the footage in an attempt to identify the culprit.
We were robbed last night. He had a key. Got up to the safe and took the whole thing. Stole the staffs tips. pic.twitter.com/QuccQxQlrY
— _Burger55_ (@burger_55) July 8, 2019
“If you see somebody wearing a nice white hat and hoodie looking suspicious around your business, it’s more than likely this person could be casing you out to look for an opening to take advantage of your business,” said Bee.
The mother of one of the Burger55 employees has established a GoFundMe account to help recover the lost tip money. But Bee said he had already made it clear he will reimburse employees their tip money.
“Just to clarify, where this came from and the need for it is unnecessary as staff is guaranteed their tips regardless of the incident,” he said. “The (news of the) fundraising campaign only brought up negative criticisms and it is not fair for us business owners. We sincerely hope that no incident like this happens to anyone.”
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Robin Grant Reporter, Penticton Western News Email me or follow me on Twitter Follow us on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
