7.12.13 Reddick Restaurant Scam

7/12/13
Trickster with pierced elbow took $1,250 from outwitted clerk at Jim's Bar-B-Que - OrlandoSentinel.com
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Trickster with pierced elbow takes $1,250 from
outwitted teen clerk at Jim's Bar-B-Que
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Detectives released surveillance images Thursday in hopes of finding scammers w ho took $1,250 from clerk Amber
Benz at Jim's Bar-B-Que in Reddick in Marion County on June 22. (July 11, 2013)
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By Kevin P. Connolly, Staff Writer
2:45 p.m. EDT, July 11, 2013
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A scammer with a pierced elbow walked away with $1,250
from a barbecue restaurant in Marion County in June after
a clerk was tricked into thinking he was the owner's
representative, deputies said Thursday.
The trickster and a female accomplice took money from
18-year-old clerk Amber Benz at Jim's Bar-B-Que in
Reddick on June 22 after a caller told Benz he was the
owner, the Marion County Sheriff's Office said.
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Detectives released surveillance images Thursday in
hopes of finding the scammers.
The man was described as having a "thin build, with lightcolored hair" and wearing a "black hat, dark shirt and dark
shorts; and he has a pierced elbow."
Any way you look at it, Florida is the
state of weird
The couple drove a newer Toyota Corolla or similar
vehicle.
Maps
7424 West Highway 318, Reddick, FL
32686, USA
"We need assistance in identifying the man, as well as the
woman he was with," Detective Tom Calhoun said in a
report.
www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-clerk-tricked-scam-jim-bar-b-que-20130711,0,5265538.story
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7/12/13
Trickster with pierced elbow took $1,250 from outwitted clerk at Jim's Bar-B-Que - OrlandoSentinel.com
Benz told authorities she got a call from someone posing
as Thor Wishart — the owner of the restaurant at 7424
West Highway 318 — at about 5:30 p.m. June 22.
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The person said he would be entering restaurant and handing her a key. He told her that she
was to hand him cash after she takes the key.
The caller initially asked for $650 then increased the amount to $1,250.
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A man walked in while she was on the phone with the caller and said Wishart sent him. She
accepted the key he handed her and gave him the money.
Later, when the owner's wife, Karen Wishart, entered the store, Benz told her what happened.
Karen Wishart immediately knew her husband wasn't the caller and she contacted deputies, a
report said.
She helped retrieve security images from inside the restuarant of the man and woman. But she
couldn't get the caller's number because it was blocked, a report said.
Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers of Marion County at 352-368-7867.
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Trickster with pierced elbow took $1,250 from outwitted clerk at Jim's Bar-B-Que - OrlandoSentinel.com
Comments (1)
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Child stars then and now
Remember when they were little?
JohnnyLenHartwell at 5:08 PM July 11, 2013
Sounds like an inside job.
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