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Man tries to steal restaurant’s computer, pretends to be manager

The bar area at Clearman's Steak 'n' Stein in Pico Rivera in 2003; a man is accused of trying to take a computer and claiming to be the manager at the restaurant.
(Richard Hartog / Los Angeles Times)
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When asked why he was sneaking out of a Pico Rivera restaurant with a computer, Fernando Castillo offered a simple answer: I’m the manager.

Only problem? The person asking was the actual manager.

“It was an ‘I’m the manager, no I’m the manager’ type of thing,” Sgt. Ernest Bille of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said of the back-and-forth exchange at Clearman’s Steak ‘n Stein on Tuesday night.

As employees prepped to close for the night, Castillo sneaked in, unplugged a computer monitor and tried to leave the restaurant with it, authorities said.

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“We don’t know at what point he was able to get in,” Bille said. “We don’t know if he was hiding or what.”

When the 24-year-old suspect tried to flee the scene, he got stuck between two sets of doors, which the employees locked behind him, Bille said.

When deputies arrived at the restaurant to arrest the suspect on burglary charges later that night, he was still inside the makeshift secured entryway.

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marisa.gerber@latimes.com

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