Grocery Store Employee Punished After Humiliating Bumbling Thieves

A Colorado employee who bravely and conscientiously helped catch a group of shoplifters at his grocery store last week found that helping do the right thing has negative consequences in an age where woke corporations reign.

On June 18, Santino Burrola, an employee at a King Soopers store in Centennial, Colorado — a southern suburb of Denver — was alerted that three men were trying to steal what turned out to be nearly $500 worth of laundry detergent, in another example of the rampant retail theft engulfing the country.

“Sure enough, when I looked there was a guy already half-headed out with a cart full of laundry detergent scent boosters what have you,” Burrola said, according to KCNC-TV in Denver.

Adding that, “My first instinct was to record,” Burrola said she pulled out his cell phone and followed the trio of thieves making off with their stolen merchandise.

Burrola followed the men outside and recorded the thieves as they shoveled the loot into a black Chevy Trax in the parking lot.

“Really bro? You gotta resort to this? The economy’s not that bad,” Burrola can be heard saying in the video.

Burrola also noted that after the shoplifters got into their car, he ran up behind the vehicle and in one smooth move tore off the tin foil that was covering the license plate and filmed that, too.

After the car was driven off, Burrola called the police and reported the theft.

The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office announced that they were looking for a man who goes by “Robert” with dark brown hair and a mustache. They added that the man seen wearing a Superman shirt and baseball cap is known as “Bugsy,” KCNC reported.

But the man who owns the car seen in the video was arrested.

“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.”

Sadly, Burrola, a former military police officer, got an unwelcome surprise after posting the video of the retail theft to TikTok.

At the start of his next shift, not long after Burrola’s video went viral and the police arrested the first culprit, his boss called him into a meeting, KCNC added.

His boss suspended him immediately pending other actions. And a week later, the company fired him.

“I and the union rep sat down with them and they [King Soopers] recommended termination and so I got fired that day,” Burrola told the CBS affiliate.

Burrola was told that King Soopers’ owner, Kroger, has a rule against employees trying to deal with shoplifters. So, he was fired.

“All I did was just record criminals and reveal them!” he said, lamenting that he could be fired for doing what he felt was the right thing.

“I hope this changes the policy, in the handbook or the shoplifting policy and gives power back to retail workers like myself,” Burrola concluded.

For its part, King Soopers blathered out some empty platitudes about Burrola’s firing.

“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,” the company said in a statement.

“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,” they concluded.

Burrola, though, is undaunted. Despite being accused of being a racist for attacking the Hispanic thieves, he said he’d do the same thing again.

“I didn’t see color when I confronted them, I’ve seen criminals, white, black, brown, purple, it didn’t matter, a crime was being committed and wrong is wrong and a crime is a crime,” he said, according to the New York Post.

“Let me tell you something, if something is happening right in front of me, I’m gonna make it my business,” he added.

A GoFundMe page was started to help Burrola recover some lost wages and help fund his move from Colorado to Florida.

The grocery store can moan about the rampant retail theft all they want, but if they are going to put on an air of permissiveness to such crimes, how can they cry about it? And how can they be so callous as to fire a conscientious employee who wants to stop it?

Sadly, that is where we have come to in America today, when ultra-woke corporations turn a blind eye to the retail theft that is costing this county billions a year and fostering an atmosphere of placating criminality.