So this is some classic stuff, once again the Karma Truck comes a-calling and some idiot discovers crime doesn’t pay. Over $100,000 in around a year is pretty impressive, makes me wonder if someone had noticed the shrink in his store and was asking him if he knew what was going on–and all the time it was him stealing it. I’ve never worked for anyone who was an out-and-out thief like this (although the first manager I worked for got fired for banging our bookkeeper…) but have seen plenty of people lose their job for stealing from their employer. You always hope they get what’s coming to them, although even I’d have to say that a shin bone sticking out of a leg could be considered above and beyond…
Walgreens manager busted & broken in cig-stealing scheme
But the butt head’s plot was foiled when he tried to make off with 300 packs of smokes Friday — only to trip over a road barrier and snap his leg in a klutzy getaway, the sources said.
Tony Nazario, 29, of Old Bridge, NJ, had been using a key to get into the store on Forest Avenue near Decker Avenue after-hours and swipe a total of at least 10,000 packs of smokes since January 2014, police sources said.
Cops snuffed out his 23-pack-a-day habit after the bumbling bandit stuffed 300 packs of cigarettes — including Newports, Salems and Mavericks — into two garbage bags at around 12:30 a.m. Friday, the sources said.
When police showed up, Nazario dropped the bags and ran, police sources said. But his getaway moves were worse than a winded chain smoker. He tried to hop a road barrier, failed to clear it and shattered his leg, said law-enforcement sources.
Even as he lay in a pool of blood — with his shin bone poking out through his skin — he tried to fight off cops, refusing to be cuffed, police sources said.
Later he confessed to the cigarette scheme, telling officers he was mad at the company’s regional manager and had stolen the cigarettes to “get his,” according to police sources.
As he lay bleeding on the ground, he added, “I shouldn’t have ran.” Nazario was rushed to Richmond University Medical Center with a compound fracture.
The disgruntled worker went to the Walgreens every Thursday night after it closed to raid it, police sources said. He may have sold the packs of cheap cigarettes to delis, police sources said. Cops were tipped off about the heist by another worker, police sources said.
Nazario was moved to Staten Island University Hospital to undergo surgery on Friday.
Workers at the Walgreens on Friday claimed they had no clue about the scheme. Walgreens spokeswoman Emily Hartwig had no comment Friday. “We would refer you to local police regarding this matter,” she said.
Nazario, who was charged with grand larceny and burglary, could not be reached for comment at the hospital Friday.