‘Beef bandit’ steals $15,000 worth of meat from steakhouse after interviewing for a job, police say

ROSWELL, Ga. — A man being called the “beef bandit” has been identified by Roswell Police.

He’s wanted for stealing around $15,000 in expensive cuts of meat from Uncle Jack’s on Canton Street.

Roswell Police confirmed the suspect is Warren Kearny of Sandy Springs, who was hired and scheduled to start working at Uncle Jack’s on Friday. He’s now wanted on warrants for two counts of second-degree burglary.

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The upscale steakhouse was stocked up for Valentine’s Day when the thief broke into a walk-in cooler just outside the back door of the restaurant Monday morning.

He took boxes of everything from Kobe and Wagyu beef, to ahi tuna, to their famous “long bones.”

“They’re like 20 inches long,” said celebrity restaurant owner Willie Degel from his office in New York. “Now (you’re) running around with Fred Flintstone racks of beef inside your car?”

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Degel said they added extra protection, but the man returned just three days later.

“He saw bigger and better locks, came with big deadbolts, and cut them off,” Degle said. “I’m so shocked someone came back that fast.”

The second burglary, which occurred on Thursday around 6:30 a.m., was also captured on surveillance video. It shows the same man taking out even more boxes and loading them into his car.

The head chef recognized the man as a recent applicant who was in the restaurant just days before and had knowledge of the operation.

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Now the question is not only where is Kearny, but also, where’s the beef? Degel wonders what he did with the meat.

“He’d need a bandsaw; got to cut the loins, the chops. Going to eat it all?” Degel said.

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