Plymouth Burger King Manager Charged with Robbing His Own Restaurant
Police say Kyle Mathew Jordan Hunt robbed the Plymouth Burger King at gunpoint in September and locked two employees in the freezer.
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OUTSIDE MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- The manager of a local fast-food restaurant that was robbed at gunpoint in September has been charged with perpetrating the robbery and kidnapping two employees who were forced into the restaurant’s freezer.
Kyle Mathew Jordan Hunt, 20, of Becker, Minn., is charged with three felonies: aggravated first-degree robbery and two counts of kidnapping, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $35,000 fine.
Plymouth police responded to a reported robbery at the Burger King restaurant on 28th Place North in Plymouth just after 10:30 p.m. Sept. 3, according to the criminal complaint, signed by Plymouth Police Detective Jon Goldenman.
Employees told police that they were closing up for the night, with all the doors locked and the bathrooms checked, and nobody else was in the restaurant. One of the employees said he was in the kitchen when a white man, 6 feet tall and weighing about 160 pounds and with his face covered, walked up, pointed a gun at his head and ordered him into the freezer.
The other employee, a woman, was already in the freezer taking inventory when the gunman pushed the man inside. The gunman left but returned shortly afterward, grabbing the woman by the hair and dragging her out of the freezer, the complaint says.
The suspect held the gun to the back of the woman’s head and ordered her to open the office door. She complied, and he took her back to the freezer and closed the door.
The two employees stayed inside the freezer for about 10 minutes, then came out to find the suspect gone and a large amount of cash missing from the restaurant’s safe. Burger King managers told police that Hunt, the store manager, had not followed a store policy dictating that cash deposits were to be locked in a special safe, with the key to that safe locked in a second safe.
Hunt had recently been disciplined for failing to make the restaurant’s deposits in a timely manner, according to store policy, according to the complaint.
Surveillance video showed the suspect grabbing the male employee and forcing him into the cooler at gunpoint. Another camera focused on the kitchen and the back room had been turned so that the video it captured was no help in identifying the gunman.
Shortly before the robbery, Hunt complained to employees about his financial troubles, and he quit his job at Burger King five days after the incident, according to the complaint. Police found a .22-caliber Airsoft magazine on the floor next to the restaurant freezer, and swabbed it for DNA.
Subsequent testing showed that the DNA on the magazine matched Hunt’s.
Police interviewed Hunt, who initially claimed that he was at Canterbury Park in Shakopee on the night of the robbery, then later changed his story and said he was at home in Becker. The female Burger King employee said she called Hunt on his cell phone after she called 911 to tell him about the robbery; cell-phone records show that when she called him, he was about seven miles from the restaurant, and not in either Shakopee or Becker.
Hunt remains in the Hennepin County Jail on a $250,000 bond. He is scheduled to make a first appearance on the charges Dec. 4 in Hennepin County District Court.
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Thomas
12:39 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Are you serious? I hate it when people use airsoft guns to do horrible acts. It just makes the sport look bad and the players look like delinquents. A lot of sites like http://www.airsplat.com/airsoft-info.htm give education pages. But people like this make it so difficult to take away any misconception on the sport.
Phil Collins
1:36 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
After the Robbery he reportedly told Police a Whopper !
joel
1:44 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
darwin laws
American Woman
2:41 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Sadly, I don't think its so unusual. Here in Keene, NH our local McDonald's assistant manager trains and demands all his employees to steal from the till and give him the money to buy about $200.00 worth of percocet daily. He is pretty blatant about it and cites addiction as a crutch. The employees all do it or they are fired. My oldest first told me of this and I questioned if she maybe misunderstood something. After two more of my children and numerous others telling me it is true and talking about it, it seems it is considered normal. The owner overlooks it since the assistant manager is his nephew. Corporate doesn't want to know about it. The only way to communicate a complaint to them is through thier online web form which conveniently has a glitch. There is no way to phone or postal mail them. This all leads me to think that these things are common practice among fast food chains. They are stealing from themselves in many ways. I guess they are making more than enough not to worry about it so I don't see this trend changing any time soon.
Chzyrider
3:35 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Perhaps it's time to ban all airsoft guns that shoot rubber BB's from public sale and use since some versions can look far too similar to real firearms, and are obviously being abused for the purpose of criminal activities?
Real BB guns were intended for 12 yr olds to learn how to safely shoot and become responsible adult users of larger firearms, but idiots like this using these toy airsoft guns to commit crimes just adds another reason for those that wish ALL firearms be banned leaving you throwing shoes and coffee cups at any burgler or home intruder to defend and protect your family.
If one of the employees had a CWP and opted to protect themselves rather than comply to the criminal's demands, it may have been a far different outcome from this guy attempting an armed robbery with a toy gun. Some people argue that "if the gun was not available, the crime perhaps would not have been committed." This is only blaming the tool or device, not the user or abuser of such items.
On tv or in the movies, you can see someone just using their hand in their coat pocket to indicate pointing a gun. Does this mean we ban everyone from putting their hand in their pockets? Or ban pockets overall as an abused method to conceal weapons?
There is always someone who will abuse something to ruin the fun for all the safe and responsible ones. I do not believe these toy guns need to be banned, but rather the public needs to be re-educated in the proper usage of all firearms.
Teresa Sanford Cheadle
3:36 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
I think if I was the McDonalds Corporation, I would have ALL Keene, NH stores investigated immediately. A story like this should be investigated. Either an assistant manager needs to be fired and/or go to jail or the author of this story does (slander/libel?)
Maxine
4:04 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Teresa, I the McDonalds in Keene NH is independently owned, so why would corporate care. They aren't losing any money. I bet the owner doesn't know who is doing it. How can any business afford to lose that much money per day. Unless the owner doesn't look over the books.
Nunya Marie
12:14 pm on Thursday, December 6, 2012
1) Why didn't the employee's recognize his voice?
2) How much money are you getting from Burger King when most people use debit/credit cards these days?
3) Is it ever really worth it?
Al Anderson
4:56 pm on Monday, December 10, 2012
If you are going to steal (like so many takers already do)...at least do it from the state or federal government. The federal government has just been printing more money to make up for the ones "stolen" anyway.