Bold burglar steals cash from register

The owner of Enlighten Cafe (5424 Ballard Ave NW) tells us that a man came in and took nearly 200 dollars from the cash drawer on Saturday while the shop was open.

Here is the account from owner Chris Wilcynski:

Our barista went upstairs to use the restroom, and left two customers in the cafe, one of which was a regular. She feels like she was gone for approximately 3 minutes and witnessed a man with the following description in the hallway when she returned. “I saw a copper-skinned, portly man probably in his late 40s or early 50s with his head ducked down so I couldn’t see his eyes, wearing a white chef’s coat and walking unassuming”. Having a suspicion that something was off as he was down by the restroom, but didn’t have a key, she checked the cafe and found that all large bills had been taken from the cash drawer. When she spoke with the our regular in the cafe, he said that the man had gone behind the counter and opened the cash drawer and taken money out. The customer assumed he was an employee of Root Table, needing cash to purchase some additional items for the restaurant as he was wearing a chef’s coat and acted as if he belonged. He was very quiet, quick, and smooth.

“From the looks of how he robbed us, he was aware of our systems, so likely had been watching our cafe, had the audacity to pretend he belonged and fit within the context of our cafe and restaurant so to fool our regular customers who were in the cafe,” Wilcynski says. “I would assume that he would be watching other businesses as well.”