A thief targeted a Seattle restaurant this week, but he wasn’t after cash.
The theft happened at May Restaurant and Lounge early Tuesday, and the incident was caught on camera.
The thief skipped the cash register and headed for the freezers, making off with 90 pounds of meat and seafood KIRO7 reported.
The manager, Tuck Tongpattanakul, is surprised at what was stolen.
“(I) can't imagine somebody (taking) that much meat. Is there a black market for meat in Seattle?” Tongpattanakul said. “I can see (taking) 5 pounds, 6 pounds, 10 pounds maybe, (but) nearly 100 pounds of meat, how do you move that much meat?”
The surveillance video shows a man in a hooded sweatshirt rifling through the freezers. He looks around, and even covers the cameras. At one point, he even gets on the phone and calls someone.
The restaurant manager guessed it was someone who helped him since it would be nearly impossible to 90 pounds of beef, shrimp, squid and prawns alone.
“We just had meat delivered on Monday and Tuesday it got stolen,” Tongpattanakul said.
“Every Monday we get meat in and we prep them for the week, and it gets stolen. We spent those hours and it's gone to waste.”
Tongpattanakul guesses the loss of the meat could amount to a few thousand dollars if you consider preparation time and sales. He also says the freezers have been raided before. Someone took chicken and ice cream during the prior theft.
Tongpattanakul told KIRO7 graffiti has been an ongoing problem in front of his restaurant.
“We got spray-painters, taggers … Every other week somebody's tagging it and I have to clean it up,” Tongpattanakul said.
He said he threw away the meat that wasn’t stolen because it was touched by the thief.
He also says he filed a police report, but isn't sure he can file an insurance claim. He hopes that telling his story and showing the crime might deter somebody else from making off with his meat. Until then, he may put padlocks on the freezer.
“You can put a chain on it I guess, but that's a bit over the top ... so, I don't know. If this happens again, I really don't know what to do,” Tongpattanakul said.
The restaurant reordered meat to replace the stolen food and remains open as the case is investigated.
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