‘We’ve been HAMBURGLARED.’ Ex-Sylvester’s Burgers employee steals from restaurant, police say
A former Sylvester’s Burgers employee allegedly broke into the local chain’s downtown Atascadero restaurant on Wednesday night and made off with cash registers, money and other items.
Atascadero police responded on Thursday morning to the El Camino Real eatery, where a current employee reported a cash register, money and electronic items had been stolen, according to an Atascadero Police Department news release.
The employee arrived at work to find someone had forcibly entered the business while it was closed to steal the items, police said.
While investigating the incident, detectives talked to a witness who remembered seeing a former Sylvester’s employee in the area the previous night, police said.
Detectives identified the ex-employee as Sean Altman, 35, of Paso Robles, who they located later in the day, the release said.
Police said they found evidence Altman had allegedly been in possession of Sylvester’s property, which he had subsequently sold.
Detectives found two empty cash registers abandoned down the street in Atascadero, and they tracked some of the additional stolen property to an area in Paso Robles.
Police arrested Altman on suspicion of second-degree burglary and possession of stolen property. Altman is being held in San Luis Obispo County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.
In addition to the Atascadero restaurant, Sylvester’s Burgers has locations in Los Osos and Oceano.
The chain’s Atascadero location on Friday posted about the burglary on Facebook, saying “We’ve been HAMBURGLARED!”
The restaurant included a photo of the Hamburglar, the masked McDonald’s character, and offered free fries with the purchase of a burger to customers who mention the post.
This story was originally published November 22, 2019 at 1:48 PM.
