Buffalo Wild Wings manager takes off from restaurant with bags of cash, Florida cops say

A manager of a Buffalo Wild Wings in Florida is facing a grand theft charge after police say he was seen on surveillance footage pocketing large sums of cash and walking out of the restaurant with bags full of money.

Officers arrested the manager at a Buffalo Wild Wings franchise in Largo on Feb. 27, according to an arrest affidavit from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.

Another manager who was transferred to the Largo store to assist in July noticed “almost immediately” that change order payments delivered to the restaurant by Brinks security services weren’t being recorded, according to the affidavit. Change order payments are orders of small bills and cash that can be used for change at the restaurant, according to police.

He also noticed that “safe counts were off,” the affidavit says.

Company leaders reviewed safe counts dating back to Jan. 4, 2022, and found around 32 instances of change orders not being recorded and money missing from the final safe count, the affidavit says.

On at least two occasions, the accused manager was seen on surveillance footage pocketing “large sums of cash” from a change order and walking out of the restaurant, according to the affidavit.

In one surveillance video, he can be seen putting money in a bag and walking out the front of the restaurant to his vehicle, the affidavit says. A second video shows him grab a bag with a large amount of cash and leave with it out the back of the restaurant, according to the affidavit.

Buffalo Wild Wings calculated the total amount of money stolen as $72,820, the affidavit says.

The company did not respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.

He is being held on a $10,000 bond, according to Pinellas County Jail records. He faces one count of grand theft of over $20,000 and under $100,000.

Largo is about 25 miles west of Tampa.

Buffalo Wild Wings has 1,236 locations across the U.S.

This story was originally published March 1, 2023 at 7:59 AM with the headline "Buffalo Wild Wings manager takes off from restaurant with bags of cash, Florida cops say."