Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PROVO — A shop received an outpouring of support on social media after it posted surveillance video of a man stealing a tip jar while an employee’s back was turned.
Coffee Pod, a coffee shop located at 426 W. 1230 North in Provo, posted the surveillance video on its Facebook page Monday in hopes of identifying the man who stole the tip jar. As of Tuesday afternoon, the post had been shared more than 1,100 times and the video on Facebook had more than 40,000 views.
Paulina Pereira was working at the counter when the man came into the shop at about 7:20 p.m. on Sunday. She said the incident was quick and the man wasn’t threatening. When the man entered the store and she asked if he needed anything, he was polite and told her he needed a few minutes, as if he was deciding.
“I turned around and 30 seconds later he was gone,” she said. “I didn’t even notice he had taken my tip jar. He was just in and out and it wasn’t until I was ringing up my next customer about 10 minutes later that I even noticed.”
Once Pereira discovered the tip jar was gone, she contacted the shop’s management and involved police. The entire incident was captured by surveillance cameras. Pereira said the man was in the store for less than two minutes, and that he took the tip jar while she was still in the room.
Although she hadn’t counted the tips prior to the jar being stolen, Pereira estimated there was between $40 and $70 in there based on what she typically receives.
“I was like, ‘People have been tipping really well tonight,’ so it was kind of a bummer,” she said.
Even though Pereira wasn’t threatened, she said everyone has been really concerned and generous in their responses to hearing about the incident.
The Provo Police Department is currently investigating the theft, according to Lt. Brandon Post.
Investigators described the man as being a white male wearing jeans, a white hooded sweatshirt and flip-flops. He has short brown hair, is about 5-feet, 11-inches tall and weighs about 175 pounds.
Anyone with information about the identity of the man or the incident can contact the Provo Police Department at 801-852-6210 and reference case #14-TR26632.
Post said several similar cases are being investigated by the Pleasant Grove Police Department.
