A meat connoisseur took a chunky bite out of a Roswell steakhouse’s bottom line this week, stealing about $15,000 worth of fine beef, ribs and steak from Uncle Jack’s on Canton Street, police said.
Willie “Jack” Degel, owner of the downtown Roswell restaurant, said the same man broke into a locked meat freezer on the restaurant’s property twice this week. Both times, the suspect swiped boxes of exotic and imported meats, according to Roswell police.
Investigators on Friday identified the alleged burglar as Warren Kearney, a 53-year-old Sandy Springs man. Detectives obtained warrants for his arrest on two counts of second-degree burglary, according to a police spokesperson.
Kearney remains at large. According to investigators, employees knew him because he’d recently been hired at the restaurant.
Credit: Roswell Police Department
Credit: Roswell Police Department
The break-ins at Uncle Jack’s aren’t the only recent reports of bulky food thefts in the metro area.
Atlanta police are investigating a Feb. 4 burglary at Ideal Sportsbar at 1953 Lakewood Avenue in southeast Atlanta. Authorities said a masked man broke into the restaurant and stole 10 cases of frozen chicken wings worth about $800 along with four bottles of Scotch, according to a police report. The bar was also burglarized Jan. 23 when someone wearing a mask kicked in the plexiglass front door and broke into the cash register, the report stated.
The latest Consumer Price Index report shows the cost of meats, poultry and seafood have risen 12.2% over the past year.
Degel, who founded the Uncle Jack’s franchise in New York City and has four locations in Georgia, coined a nickname for the burglar, calling him the “rare beef bandit” during a phone interview Thursday night with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He said he’s beefing up security and installing more cameras throughout his Canton Street eatery, which opened last year.
Credit: WSBTV Videos
Now Degel is ponying up an incentive for tipsters to come forward with information. Anyone who can help police will get a free dinner for two each month for the next year in any of Degel’s restaurants, he told the AJC.
“Crime is up everywhere. I believe police have been diminished a little bit, and that gives confidence to the criminals. And when crime is up, we all pay for it,” he said.
According to the Roswell police report, Kearney stole close to $3,000 worth of raw meat during Sunday’s robbery. A general manager told officers the suspect pulled into a back parking lot shortly before 7:30 a.m. and walked straight to a walk-in freezer on the east side of the restaurant.
Degel said the man popped a deadbolt lock to break into the external freezer. Surveillance cameras showed him pull several boxes of meat out of the cooler and carry them to his car.
Police described Kearney’s getaway car as a dark-colored, mid-sized sedan. Degel said it resembled an Acura.
According to the report, he stole three strip loins, lamb, tuna steak, short ribs and a tomahawk steak.
“He knew what he was doing, he was a pro,” Degel said. “He was in and out. He loaded up the car, took the goods. He didn’t care he was on camera. And he got away with it.”
Police said Kearney struck again early Wednesday morning. This time he cut the padlock with a pair of bolt cutters and made off with more than $12,400 worth of exotic meats, according to an officer’s report. Degel said it included Japanese-imported Kobe beef, domestic Wagyu beef, Australian lamb, Hawaiian tuna steak, prime dry-aged short loins and long-bone rib chops.
“We were loaded up for the weekend, and he got us really good,” Degel said.
According to police, the head chef at Uncle Jack’s recognized Kearney in the video, telling officers he’d recently applied for a position at the restaurant and was hired. The chef said he would be returning Friday to start his new job, according to the police report.
Anyone with information on Kearney’s whereabouts is asked to call the Roswell Police Department at 770-640-4100. Tipsters can remain anonymous, and be eligible for rewards of up to $2,000, by contacting Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 404-577-8477, texting information to 274637 or visiting the Crime Stoppers website.
