You’d think a retail establishment would be grateful if one of its workers acting quickly to give the cops a clue on who was robbing the store so that those robbers could be caught and locked up. You’d think so…but, like the retail workers in Peachtree Corners, GA, that were fired for filming looters, a veteran in Colorado was just fired from his grocery store job for filming three robbers, producing evidence that helped the cops catch and arrest those robbers.
That veteran is Santino Burrolo. He worked at a store called King Soopers. Then, when three men stole about $500 worth of laundry detergent on Father’s Day, he filmed them and removed an aluminum foil covering they had over their vehicle’s license plate. That helped law enforcement officers identify and apprehend the driver of the getaway car.
Watch the video here:
Instead of the store thanking Burrolo for helping stop the criminals targeting it, Kind Soopers fired him for violating its policies against intervening in theft or chasing after thieves. Speaking about the incident, Burrolo told Fox & Friends, “I felt I was doing the right thing and the union had my back on that.”
King Soopers told a local news outlet that it has “security measures in place to help prevent crime and deescalate such confrontations to minimize the risk to our associates.” It added, “While we are unable to comment on personnel matters, we value our hardworking associates and their return home.”
The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s office posting about the incident on Facebook, saying that they had arrested the driver of the vehicle already but were looking for the other two robbers involved in the video. In the post, the office said, “Arapahoe Sheriff Investigators are asking for the public’s help in identifying two shoplifters in this viral video being shared on social media. Investigators have already identified and arrested the driver, Jorge Pantoja, 32, the man in the green shirt. Pantoja is currently in custody at the Adams County Detention Facility on unrelated felony charges. He has also been charged with Theft/Shoplifting, a Class 2 Misdemeanor.”
Continuing, the sheriff’s office provided a few more identifying details for those involved in the robbery, saying, “Investigators are still trying to identify the other two men in the video, both white males wearing blue shirts and jeans. One of them goes by Robert, he has dark brown hair, a mustache and wears glasses. The other goes by the name Bugsy and is wearing a blue shirt with a Superman logo and a baseball cap.”
The office then added, “Investigators say the theft happened on June 18, 2023, around 6:40 p.m. The suspects stole approximately $400-$500 worth of laundry detergent and Downy Unstopables from the King Soopers grocery store at 5050 E. Arapahoe Rd. in Centennial. Investigators located the registered owner of the vehicle who stated he loaned the car to a friend. The driver was then contacted, arrested and stated he picked up two other males at the Light Rail station at I-25 and Belleview and offered them an opportunity to make some money. The men told the driver their names were Robert and Bugsy.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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