A California man has been arrested and has allegedly confessed to armed robberies of two Bay Area McDonald's Restaurants. Officials say he went into each location wearing a white mask, brandished a gun, took an undisclosed amount of cash and ordered all the employees into the freezer.
There was only one teensy weensy flaw in this otherwise perfect plan. He was the manager of one of the two restaurants.
I wonder, what gave him away? Was he still wearing his manager's vest proudly displaying the embroidered “Golden Arches”? Perhaps he stopped to discipline an employee for failing to follow some safety or security protocol. It's possible he asked for the amount of cash in the robbery to be “supersized”, or employees were surprised the robber knew the combination to the safe. He probably shouldn't have told the employees to “straighten up” while they were locked in the freezer. Or did he just forget to take his nametag off?
We'll never know. We are just thankful that evil is not always intelligent.
It is an odd phenomenon that people try to steal from entities from which they have some familiarity. Many years ago I witnessed an armed robbery and abduction at a bank in Durango, CO. I was very lucky that day, as I was one of two potential people with a car the robber could force at gunpoint to drive him away. He took the other guy. That masked robber was very quickly caught because one of the tellers was able to tell investigators, “I recognize his voice. He is a customer named Steve Dumbass”.
Ok, his last name wasn't really Dumbass, but it might as well have been. This rocket scientist was under arrest and in the hospital recovering from police induced gunshot wounds within 12 hours of the robbery. He had those gunshot wounds because, in addition to not comprehending people he routinely dealt with could finger him in a robbery; he apparently did not understand the concept of “come out of your little trailer with your hands up, Dumbass”.
So, back to the present, 42 year old Felix Becerra is being held in San Mateo county jail on charges of robbing the restaurant he managed. If convicted, this will not look good on his next performance review. On an unrelated note, the McDonald's in Pleasanton is now looking to hire a manager. Just don't ask for the combination to the safe in your initial interview. You don't want to appear too enthusiastic.