Former employee accused of stealing Burger Monger safe

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An alleged thief in St. Pete had to work really hard to steal a safe from the Burger Monger on 4th Street N. Surveillance video shows him struggling for about an hour during the heist.

“He was bound and determined to get in there. He struggled, he worked at it, he broke a sweat,” said St. Petersburg Police Department spokesperson Yolanda Fernandez.

All that struggling actually helped the cops.

“What it provided for us in law enforcement: We had a really good picture of his face,” said Fernandez.

Police say the man turned out to be a former Burger Monger employee, Michael Murphy, Jr. 

Now, he’s in jail.

“Definitely, a few screws short of a batch,” said kitchen manager Matthew Milczarek. “I’m more upset about my employees. We do a tip system here. We pool them all together. We keep it all in the safe. That’s eight days' worth of tips,” he said.

He said there was probably around $2,000 in the safe.

“People work hard for their money here. They work very hard. He worked hard too, but he's not working as hard as these guys,” he said