Home Scandal and Gossip King Soopers worker fired recording 3 men steal laundry detergent

King Soopers worker fired recording 3 men steal laundry detergent

SHARE
Santino Burrola Centennial King Soopers worker fired recording 3 men steal laundry detergent
Santino Burrola Centennial King Soopers worker fired recording 3 men steal laundry detergent at Colorado chain.
Santino Burrola Centennial King Soopers worker fired recording 3 men steal laundry detergent
Santino Burrola Centennial King Soopers worker fired recording 3 men steal laundry detergent at Colorado chain.

Santino Burrola, Centennial King Soopers worker fired recording 3 men steal $500 in laundry detergent as viral TikTok video leads to debate about how management handles increasing shoplifting along with workers who don’t completely comply with most chains ‘hands off’ policy during criminal acts. 

Maybe management should have just capitulated and closed the store instead?

When crime pays. A Colorado supermarket employee was fired after he recorded three men stealing approximately $500 worth of laundry detergent from a Centennial store on the weekend of June 18th. 

Santino Burrola, a King Soopers employee, was alerted to a theft in progress at the store, with the worker intuitively pulling out his phone to record it.

‘Really, bro, you got to resort to this?

‘When I looked there was already a guy halfway headed out with a food cart full of laundry detergents and scent boosters and what have you,’ Burrola told CBS Colorado. ‘My first instinct, record.’

As Burrola, a former military police officer, walked out of the store, the three thieves hurried to load up a black Chevy Trax, one opening the doors, another throwing a basket full of items into the back seat, and another struggling to unload the full shopping cart.

‘Really, bro, you got to resort to this? The economy isn’t that bad,’ Burrola could be heard in the now-viral video shared by the Arapahoe Sheriff’s Office.

‘Better gettin’ while the gettin’s good,’ Burrola is heard joking. 

As the three shoplifters attempted to flee the parking lot, the getaway driver was a little faster than the two still outside the car, who had trouble getting into the vehicle.

It’s during this moment, Burrola yank at a sheet of foil covering the getaway vehicle’s license plate.

@thagodfather01♬ original sound – thagodfather01

‘I would never let any criminal conduct slide’

An act of defiance that probably doesn’t come under the employee handbook umbrella, ’employees must never stop shoplifters – let them take it- it’s what the insurance is there for’ but an act that could’ve hypothetically led to one of the three assailants becoming agitated and responding in kind against the worker and thereby putting the employer in a potential legal bind had Burrola been seriously injured or even killed in retaliation. 

After the men got into the car and left the area, Burrola called the police, later sharing the video to social media, which helped out the investigators.

‘So I posted it on TikTok, hoping that somebody would recognize them,’ Burrola said of the video which has since been viewed 1.5 million times, and racked up close to 9400 comments. 

When Burrola returned to the store for his next shift, he learned he had been suspended, and then a week later fired.

‘Me and the union rep sat down with them and they recommended termination,’ Burrola said. ‘I would never let any criminal conduct slide, especially when it’s happening right in front of me.’

Which might be the worker’s first mistake. As most employer’s in the face of ever increasing shoplifting and the potential liabilities that faces an employer would almost always prefer that employees let criminal conduct slide- for the sake of the greater whole.

Burrola claimed not break any rules or touching the thieves — and that he had merely acted in an effort to help the community.

‘Did I feel that I overstepped boundaries? Not really because I didn’t physically touch them or alter their shoplifting in any way, I just revealed the license plate to help the community to be aware, the police be aware and to help better catch them,’ Burrola told 9News.

Santino Burrola King Soopers worker fired recording men steal
Santino Burrola King Soopers worker fired recording men steal as TikTok video goes viral.

Worker’s video leads to an arrest

‘Investigators have already identified and arrested the driver, Jorge Pantoja, 32, the man in the green shirt,’ the Arapahoe Sherriff’s Office said in a statement. ‘Pantoja is currently in custody at the Adams County Detention Facility on unrelated felony charges. He has also been charged with Theft/Shoplifting, a Class 2 Misdemeanor.’

Police are still searching for the two passengers after the driver was arrested on an unrelated felony charge and also was charged with a misdemeanor in the theft.

During their investigation, police contacted the registered owner of the vehicle, who loaned the car to a friend, and the driver was later found.

‘The driver was then contacted, arrested, and stated he picked up two other males at the Light Rail station at I-25 and Belleview and offered them an opportunity to make some money. The men told the driver their names were Robert and Bugsy.’ 

The other two thieves are still on the loose.

Management release statement: ‘No F**K’s given’ 

The supermarket chain around the Rocky Mountains is a subsidy of the Kroger Company, which Burrola said has a policy against employees chasing thieves or intervening in a theft

‘We are disappointed by the increased level of crime across retail establishments and the impact these incidents have on our associates and customers. We remain committed to working in partnership with local law enforcement to address this issue, as safety remains a top priority,’ King Soopers said in a statement to CBS Colorado.

‘We have security measures in place to help prevent crime and de-escalate such confrontations to minimize the risk to our associates. While we are unable to comment on personnel matters, we value our hardworking associates and their safe return home,’ the statement concluded. 

Following his termination from the store, Burrola posted a follow-up video to TikTok where he held an impromptu press conference to ask and answer his own questions.

‘I was limited to my abilities due to the fact that I was employed there,’ Burrola answered on why he didn’t ‘deck’ the thieves.

While adding, ‘Let me tell you something, if something is happening right in front of me, I’m gonna make it my business.’ 

Santino Burrola King Soopers worker fired recording men steal
Santino Burrola King Soopers worker fired recording men steal.

Management: ‘We don’t need another hero’ 

Burrola’s family created a GoFundMe for the fired worker to recover lost wages. 

‘He was not given severance pay and was planning to move to Florida to be closer to family. This loss of position has put a hold on plans and has made him fall behind in a couple of bills,’ the GoFundMe states.

King Soopers’ decision to fire Burrola left many outraged under the GoFundMe page, with some donors praising Burrola for his quick thinking.

Sorry to read you were fired recording these losers thinking they could just go in and steal. Good for you though,’ one comment read.

‘It is completely absurd that this dedicated employee, who was clearly doing his job in trying to protect his stores merchandise and assist the police in arresting these thieves, was fired due to the insane regulations these corporations have created regarding retail theft,’ another commenter added.

‘I can understand the ‘do not physically engage’ rule in order to prevent employees or innocent bystanders from being hurt, but the action this employee took was assisting the business, the community, and the police. He did not deserve to be fired by any means,’ wrote another. 

While another social commentator posited: ‘That is why Kroger dosent care. They will just pass the higher prices onto us. Where was there loss prevention department? At Hannaford , we used to pursue every shoplifter and prosecute everything over $5.00. It really sent a message out to anyone else who considered shoplifting, watching a person being led out of the store in handcuffs, seeing the police car out front and such.’ 

In May, two Georgia Lululemon employees were fired after they called the police on three masked men who returned to the Atlanta store after already stealing from the location several times before.

‘We have a zero-tolerance policy that we train our educators on around engaging during a theft,’ Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald said after the two employees were fired.

SHARE