A man is in jail after police say he broke into a Miami Beach business where he worked and stole hundreds of dollars. NBC6’s Niko Clemmons reports
A man is in jail after police say he broke into a Miami Beach business where he worked and stole hundreds of dollars. But that’s not all police say he did while he was inside.
Brooks Vanderbush, the sales manager at South Beach Brewing Company, said someone they trusted and welcomed in went behind their back.
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“He seemed like a really decent guy,” Vanderbush said.
On Sunday, Vanderbush said he got a text that their chef, Alfredo Julien, was acting strange and then left.
“He was a chef on Sunday, and for some reason, mid-shift in the middle of making a sandwich, took that sandwich and walked out,” he said.
Vanderbush said they didn’t know at the time, but before Julien left, he stole the key to get inside the business. When they were able to get in on Monday, they noticed someone had ransacked the place, and the cash register was gone, along with, according to an arrest report, $500.
They checked out the surveillance cameras, and sure enough, Vanderbush said they saw their employee getting comfortable.
“He took a bottle of wine, drank about half of it,” Vanderbush said. “He wandered around, made food and took a short nap on the couch, and inspiration from a dream, he said I’m going to rob the place and that’s what he did, he started tearing stuff apart.”
According to the arrest report, Julien is homeless. He was arrested later that day, and officers picked him up on a warrant in Miami-Dade County for petit theft.
“It’s heartbreaking, you work so hard to make a place work, and this happens, and then some of these details came out, and everything was OK, then it started to become comedic, what is this guy doing?” Vanderbush said.
Vanderbush said they’ve already moved forward.
“I just don’t know what made him do that,” Vanderbush said. “I hope that whatever is going on in his life gets repaired. We all forgive him, but you can’t forget.”
