NYC Sanitation Worker Accused Of Swiping iPad From Restaurant
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A New York City sanitation worker was caught red handed after allegedly swiping an iPad from a restaurant.
Michael Maldonado, 38, was arrested Friday after he was allowed to use the bathroom at Cafe Cortadito.
Owner Patricia Valencia was cleaning the bathroom while getting ready to open for lunch when she let let Maldonado into the bathroom, where she left her iPad.
When Maldonado was about to leave the restaurant, Valencia and her husband, Ricardo Arias, realized the iPad was missing.
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"[Ricardo] opened the door, he goes 'the iPad is not in there,' I grabbed his hand and I said 'Where's my iPad, it was inside.' He lift his shirt, he goes 'I'm sorry, I was holding it,'" Patricia Valencia told 1010 WINS' Terry Sheridan.
That exchange, along with the sanitation worker pulling the iPad from under his shirt, was captured on security video, according to the owner.
"He's working and I allowed him to use the restroom, then I found that he has the iPad in his pants. On the way out, we ask him 'Where's the iPad' and he said 'I have it over here' and he lifts his green sweater and took it off and gave it back,'" Arias said.
As Arias called police, Maldonado ran out of the restaurant and continued to pick up garbage. The sanitation worker was quickly arrested soon after and charged with petit larceny.
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