Category: Cops and Courts

Cops and Courts

After men used knife and gun, a bad day for Taco Bell in California, Texas and Missouri

The latest crime news across the world of 48,000 restaurants*. Updated 5:16 p.m.

Crime scene tapeA 21-year-old worker at a Taco Bell in Redding, Calif., was repeatedly stabbed about 6 p.m. yesterday by a customer armed with a pocket knife, who jumped over the counter after claiming employees stole his credit card.

Police arrested the suspect, Marco Osby, 46, outside the restaurant after customers and others tried to detain him, according to the Record Searchlight. Osby had been released from the Shasta County Jail only three hours earlier after being arrested in a separate incident Tuesday on suspicion of assault.

Marco Osby
Osby

The victim was taken to Mercy Medical Center where he was listed in good condition last night. Police said Osby claimed he is a paranoid schizophrenic in need of medication.

In Abilene, Texas, a grand jury indicted a 22-year-old man yesterday on charges of aggravated robbery, robbery, and possession of cocaine in an April 23 robbery of a Taco Bell.

Jacob Gongora
Gongora

The man, Jacob Lee Gongora, forced an employee to enter the manager’s office at gunpoint and demanded money, according to court documents cited by the Abilene Reporter-News. The manager told police Gongora pointed the gun at her, too.

Gongora took the money and fled the restaurant; police located and arrested him later, the newspaper said. He was found carrying a long rifle; a bag of money in his pants, and a small amount of white powder, believed to be cocaine, in his sock, according to court documents.

In Hazelwood, Mo., police were searching for someone who shot a 36-year-old woman in a Taco Bell parking lot yesterday around 2:30 p.m. Officers found the victim with a gunshot wound to her leg, according to KTVI. She was taken to a local hospital to be treated for a non-life threatening injury.

KFC

A shooting last night outside a Seattle-area KFC left two men injured, with one in critical condition. The shooting started in the restaurant’s parking lot in Tukwila, 11 miles south of Seattle, during an argument between two groups of young men. At some point, the groups began firing at each other in what witnesses described as a “gunfight,” according to the Seattle Times.

* Yum has 43,000 KFCs, Pizza Huts and Taco Bells in nearly 140 countries; Papa John’s has 4,900 in 37 countries, and Texas Roadhouse has 485 restaurants in five countries. With that many locations, crimes inevitably will occur — with potentially serious legal consequences for the companies.

Cops and Courts

Idaho man arrested for threatening to kill Pizza Hut employees with a wrench; allegedly claimed food was poisoned

The latest crime news across the world of 48,000 restaurants.*

Crime scene tapeIn Twin Falls, Idaho, 38-year-old Seth Samuel Brooks was arraigned Tuesday in County Magistrate Court on a felony count of aggravated assault after he reportedly threatened to use a wrench to beat and kill Pizza Hut employees he said had poisoned his food.

An employee said she was outside behind the restaurant on a cigarette break when a silver Mitsubishi Lancer “drove at her aggressively,” court documents said, according to the Times-News. Brooks got out of the car holding a large wrench and started yelling at her about poisoning his food, the newspaper said.

Seth Samuel Brooks
Brooks

A Pizza Hut delivery driver saw the altercation and approached Brooks, who turned and threatened him, too, the Times-News said. Brooks then got in his car and left. Called to the scene, police arrested him about three miles away.

Brooks admitted to being angry at the employees and told cops he went there to confront them, but said he didn’t think he committed a crime because he didn’t actually hurt anyone, according to the Times-News.

Taco Bell

A deaf New Jersey woman sued the Mexican fast-food chain today in U.S. District Court, claiming she was discriminated against at two separate locations.

The woman, Gina Cirrincione, says she tried to buy food Jan. 11 from a Taco Bell drive-thru in Pleasantville by writing down her order and passing it directly to an employee at the pick-up window. In her lawsuit, she claims she was “berated” by a manager before receiving her order, according to foodie site Eater.

On the second occasion, March 15, the suit says Cirrincione tried using a drive-thru in Atlantic City, but was refused service entirely.

Her complaint cites the Americans With Disabilities Act, which requires businesses to provide goods and services and “make reasonable accommodations” for individuals with disabilities.

* Yum has 43,000 KFCs, Pizza Huts and Taco Bells in nearly 140 countries; Papa John’s has 4,900 in 37 countries, and Texas Roadhouse has 485 restaurants in five countries. With that many locations, crimes inevitably will occur — with potentially serious legal consequences for the companies.

Cops and Courts

‘Shocking’ video of customers jumping counter at U.K. KFC; and cops taser Taco Bell attacker in north Florida

The latest crime news across the world of 48,000 restaurants.*

Crime scene tape“Shocking footage” — that’s what the U.K.’s Mirror calls it — has emerged showing customers leaping over the counter at a KFC in Finsbury Park last night after the Wireless festival in London.

Police responded to a call for help from the restaurant’s employees, and a 17-year-old festival goer told The Evening Standard she felt “very squashed and intimidated” inside.

The trouble started when two “rowdy” men entered the restaurant and jumped ahead of a line of customers who’d already been waiting 15 minutes to place orders, according to the teenager, whom the newspaper didn’t identify by name.

“Then a man queuing heard [an employee] was going to call the police, so he questioned him and then jumped onto the counter, then about five others climbed over and stole chicken,” she said.

Taco Bell

In Lake City, Fla., police say they were forced to use a Taser three times on an unruly man who threw food at employees yesterday morning at a Taco Bell restaurant.

Jonathan Prouty
Prouty

Jonathan Prouty, 35, was unhappy (obviously, but that’s all WTLV reports) and got into a fight with customers and employees before leaving the store off of U.S. Highway 90. Officers say they caught the suspect not far away, where he didn’t obey commands to stop and eventually started swinging at officers. That’s when they broke out the Taser.

Texas Roadhouse

Further south in Florida, in Pompano Beach, a 27-year-old man is being held on a $110,000 bond after a fight in a Texas Roadhouse parking lot in Boynton Beach over a cellphone sale that went awry. The man, Christopher Charles has been charged with robbery with a firearm, armed burglary and aggravated battery.

Christopher Charles
Charles

Charles told police he bought a phone that turned out to be fake through the mobile app OfferUp. He confronted the seller in the restaurant parking lot, where they’d agreed to meet, and a physical altercation followed, according to the Palm Beach Post. Charles showed the alleged victim an unloaded gun during the fight, police said.

Charles was arraigned this morning.

* Yum has 43,000 KFCs, Pizza Huts and Taco Bells in nearly 140 countries; Papa John’s has 4,900 in 37 countries, and Texas Roadhouse has 485 restaurants in five countries. With that many locations, crimes inevitably will occur — with potentially serious legal consequences for the companies.

Cops and Courts

Papa John’s worker arrested for allegedly faking $1,300 knifepoint holdup; and at touch of a button, KFC manager foils armed robbery

The latest crime news across the world of 48,000 restaurants.*

Crime scene tapeIn Deland, Fla., about 41 miles north of Orlando, an employee was jailed yesterday after being arrested on a grand theft charge for faking a robbery at a Papa John’s early yesterday morning, according to news reports.

A dozen deputies and officers from the DeLand Police Department, plus a K-9 unit and a sheriff’s office helicopter responded to a 911 call at 1:30 a.m. from Justin Miller, a night-shift manager at the restaurant at 1129 N. Woodland Blvd.

Miller, 24, claimed he was robbed by a man armed with a pocketknife outside the back of the restaurant as he was closing for the night, authorities said, according to the Orlando Sentinel. He told cops the robber took two deposit bags with $1,332 inside.

“He was maybe a couple inches taller than me,” Miller told 911 dispatchers. “I couldn’t really tell. It looked like he was wearing all black clothes — maybe a hoodie and a ball cap. I couldn’t see his face.”

Justin Miller
Miller

Authorities searched the area for about 40 minutes, but couldn’t find a robber, said the Daytona Beach News-Journal. Growing suspicious, they reinterviewed Miller. He began showing signs of deception, the newspaper said, and finally told deputies there was no robbery. He then led deputies to an outside chimney house where he removed a cement block and pulled out the missing money.

In addition to grand theft, Miller was also charged with giving false information to law enforcement and making a false report of a crime. He was being held at the Volusia County Branch Jail after being booked in what looks like his Papa John’s uniform.

KFC

In Rockford, Ill., a man entered a KFC restaurant at 1502 Kilburn Ave. through a side door at about 5 p.m. yesterday, then stood by one of the cash registers, unnoticed by employees in the back.

Alerted by a banging noise, one female employee came to the front, where she was confronted by the suspect, who pointed a small black handgun at her.

“The suspect demanded the employee open the register and put the money in a white bag he was carrying,” according to the Register-Star newspaper. But she couldn’t open the register because she didn’t have a key.

Seeing what was happening, the manager pushed an alarm to alert police. The suspect, later described as 6 feet tall, then fled.

* Yum has 43,000 KFCs, Pizza Huts and Taco Bells in nearly 140 countries; Papa John’s has 4,900 in 37 countries, and Texas Roadhouse has 485 restaurants in five countries. With that many locations, crimes inevitably will occur — with potentially serious legal consequences for the companies.

Cops and Courts

Kindred finance chief at Indiana hospital arrested on charge he molested his foster child

The investigation into William Brenner, 49, began after detectives with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office received an abuse report June 7 from the state child welfare agency, involving a 6-year-old boy he was fostering, local news media are now reporting.

William Brenner
Brenner

Brenner is accused of molesting the boy more than once in December 2014, and on into January 2015, according to documents filed in a Johnson County court. He faces four counts of felony child molesting and one count of felony dissemination of matter harmful to minors, according to the Indianapolis Star.

“The child stated while he was staying at the man’s residence, Brenner would touch the boy’s private areas on several occasions,” according to Fox 59. The Child Services report also says the boy revealed Brenner would make the boy touch him.

Detectives executed a search warrant on Brenner’s residence Wednesday. He told detectives during an interview that he made the child take nude photos of him, according to Fox.

Brenner is CFO at Kindred Greenwood, one of the company’s 95 transitional care and rehabilitation hospitals, according to his LinkedIn profile. Greenwood is 12 miles south of Indianapolis.

Louisville-based Kindred employs more than 2,200 workers in the city, and more than 100,000 nationwide. Here’s more about hospital and nursing giant’s history.

Cops and Courts

Illinois man gets 12 years after gunpoint robbery of two Papa John’s; Memphis cops on leave after Pizza Hut shooting; and alleged cat killer accused of robbing Taco Bell in Bismarck

The latest crime news across the world of 48,000 restaurants.*

Crime scene tapeIn Illinois, a 27-year-old Aurora man was sentenced yesterday in DuPage County Circuit Court to 12 years in state prison for robbing six fast-food restaurants at gun point, including two Papa John’s.

Cord Greenwall pleaded guilty to a single count of armed robbery without a firearm, according to the Chicago Tribune. Seven other counts of armed robbery, aggravated robbery and robbery were dismissed in exchange for the plea.

The first four robberies — at two Papa John’s; a Subway, and a Dunkin’ Donuts — happened over five days ending Feb. 20. Nine days later, Greenwall hit another Subway plus a Burger King.

No injuries were reported in any of the robberies. In each instance, Greenwall entered the restaurant, demanded an employee give him money from a cash register, took the money and left, according to the Tribune, which cited the state’s attorney’s office.

Aurora robber
Greenwall

In the first Papa John’s robbery, a surveillance photo showed Greenwall wearing a black hoodie with the hood up over a black stocking mask, black gloves, dark pants, and black sandals over white socks.

According to the newspaper, Greenwall has an extensive criminal history in DuPage and Kane counties dating to the year he turned 16.

Pizza Hut

In Memphis, two police officers have been relieved of duty pending the outcome of an investigation into their shooting two suspects during an attempted armed robbery at a Pizza Hut on June 25.

The suspects — Martez Brisco, 25, and Robert Miller, 21 — have been charged with Criminal Attempt Felony in the alleged attempted holdup of the restaurant in the 5300 block of Knight Arnold, according to WHBQ.

Officers responded to a robbery call at the restaurant a little after 11 p.m., and found two masked men with guns. When the officers made contact with the suspects, shots were fired, said WHBQ.

The officers hit both suspects, with one of the suspects staying on the scene and being transported to the hospital in critical condition. The other suspect fled but later showed up at a hospital in critical condition.

Taco Bell

In Bismarck, N.D., a 36-year-old Taco Bell employee has been accused of stealing close to $1,300 from a restaurant where he worked on the city’s north side. Kristofer Gilliam was in charge of sales during the four days the money was taken, the restaurant’s manager told police; Gilliam had a personal PIN number used to open the restaurant’s safe, according to KX News.

Bismarck alleged robber
Gilliam

None of the news reports say when the incident occurred.

In a separate case, Gilliam has been charged with shooting two cats with a bow and arrow. He’s scheduled to stand trial for animal cruelty late next month.

* Yum has 43,000 KFCs, Pizza Huts and Taco Bells in nearly 140 countries; Papa John’s has 4,900 in 37 countries, and Texas Roadhouse has 485 restaurants in five countries. With that many locations, crimes inevitably will occur — with potentially serious legal consequences for the companies.