Theft takes a slice out of the bottom line of virtually every restaurant. Waiters and cooks munch on little handfuls of french fries and give free drinks to their friends all the time. But last month, the Waffle House in Richburg, South Carolina fell victim to a far more insidious form of employee theft -- one closer to a straight-to-TV sequel to Inside Man than to a pitcher of beer on the house.
At first, it looked like a normal robbery. On December 12th, a pair of the restaurant's employees called the local police to report a robbery. Summer Alexander and Carrie Jo McWaters told the deputies that an unknown man took out a gun and asked for all the money in the Waffle House cash register, so they complied.
The police did some digging and identified the robber as 21-year-old Brandon Connor. Here's where things get weird. When the police did more digging, they figured out that Connor was actually a friend of Alexander and McWaters. Further investigation indicated that the entire robbery was a sham -- that Alexander and McWaters had conspired with their friend to make it seem as if a robbery had occurred. The three later split the monetary winnings of the robbery.
Alexander and McWaters were arrested on Monday for their alleged participation in a conspiracy to commit armed robbery, and Connor was charged with armed robbery. The bail for each was set at $30,000.
Waffle House is so great at responding to natural disasters that FEMA sometimes looks to the breakfast-centric fast food chain for guidance. But this case provides yet more evidence of the idea that it still has some issues dealing with people.