Trio facing burglary charges for Saturday Cracked Crab caper
By Curtis Riggs | September 17, 2008
Angela Burke arrested early Sept. 13
CAVE CREEK – A former employee of the Cracked Crab was charged with burglarizing the now-closed eatery early on Saturday morning, Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office officials said.
In addition to burglary, Angela Burke was charged with possession of stolen property and providing false information to a police officer when she was stopped on Spur Cross Road with stolen property in the back of a pick-up early on Saturday, Sept. 13. She was arrested for the burglary along with Severino Penara, Jr., Frank Bobelick and a juvenile who was also involved in the incident. Burke and the two adults were booked into the Maricopa County Jail.
The irony of Burke’s arrest is that she was already being investigated for credit card fraud against Cracked Crab owner Bob Haas. MCSO District 4 Sgt. Joe Dietrich said Burke will be charged with theft for the illegal credit card charges this week.
Dietrich said the truck, which contained the four people and the stolen property, was stopped for suspicion of drunk driving. Deputies saw microwave ovens, a large television, a vacuum cleaner and several bottles of liquor in the bed of the truck.
“The deputy got suspicious because he saw the vehicle parked at the Cracked Crab earlier so another deputy went over and discovered the burglary,” Dietrich said.
Concerning the credit-card theft, Dietrich said Burke’s story about how she was using Haas’ credit card to get paid for tips did not hold up during interviews with other Cracked Crab employees and those close to the restaurant’s operation.
“We realized it qualified for theft because she was using the credit card for personal gain,” Dietrich said.
Haas said the Cracked Crab had been broken into three times in the last three weeks.
Photo by Curtis Riggs