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Burger King Employee Charged With Stealing From Customer

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By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 24, 2009

Updated: 03/24/2009 10:45 am

Monica DiMaio and her family took a break from their Florida vacation so they could grab dinner at Burger King. She brought her purse, which contained more than $5,000.

But when her family left the restaurant at 3009 E. Busch Blvd, she accidentally left the purse behind.

When she returned to reclaim her property, she noticed a whopper of a problem. Her money was gone.

On Monday, Tampa police arrested 24-year-old Stephen Janvier, the restaurant's assistant manager. He was charged with third-degree grand theft of $5,000 to $10,000.

Police say that on March 2, DiMaio and her family, who are on vacation from Argentina, left their hotel and ate at the Burger King. After DiMaio left the purse, a Burger King employee turned the purse over to a supervisor. DiMaio came back about 20 minutes later to get the purse.

DiMaio realized her money was missing, confronted the store's employees and called police.

"Employees were questioned however the monies were not recovered," a Tampa police department incident report states. "Police returned with the victim to her hotel room and again no monies were located."

On Monday, detectives returned to Burger King and got video they believed implicated Janvier.

Police set up a call between the store's manager and Janvier.

Janvier appeared nervous and later asked for a detective to speak with him, police say.

He agreed to return the money and was arrested, police say. DiMaio's money has been recovered.

Janvier's bail was set at $2,000. He has since been released from jail.

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691.

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