Thieves return stolen item to Fed Hill business after viral social media video
Angeli’s Pizzeria posted on social media giving the people responsible for taking their computer system 72 hours to return it
BALTIMORE —
With the help of social media, a stolen item has been returned to a well-known pizzeria in Federal Hill.
“I guess they love our pizza, and they wanted to order whenever they wanted, so they got the computer,” said Juniet Ozturk, owner of Angeli’s Pizzeria.
Ozturk said it was on Saturday night Saturday night his business partner, Hasan Ilhan noticed a POS System, designed to take orders electronically for the kitchen, was missing. Later, Ilhan checked the cameras at the Federal Hill Angeli’s Pizzeria and found two women stole it.
He said the item was sitting on the counter, and cameras caught the two women picking it up and concealing it.
“We were trying to take orders (but) we couldn’t find the computer,” said Ilhan. “The bad part, our employee, she even felt guilty because she thought she lost the computer. She went to the restroom, cried. I said, come on, it can happen. So literally, we thought we lost it. She thought, she put it in the trash by mistake with the plates and the napkins, so we looked at the trashes.”
Ilhan said it was after they closed for the night on Saturday, he thought to check the cameras and found the incident.
“Instead of just calling the police and keep them busy, the next day we decided to post it on Instagram,” Ilhan told WBAL-TV 11 News. “We thought it may work out or it may not work out. But we will see, right?”
“We decided to make the video, we posted, we blurred the faces (of) the two girls who stole our computers, then, literally, we start to get text messages, phone calls, DMs,” said Ozturk.
In the video, Ilhan and Ozturk demanded the women return their handheld POS System within 72 hours. They said if it was returned within that time frame, they would not press charges or contact police.
“We are not trying to get them; we are not trying to charge them,” said Ozturk. “The great thing, it was not violent, no fight happened. It’s a stealing, it’s bad, yes, everything has consequences but they are young, and yes, I mean, it’s not excuse, but we feel like they might be just drunk, and we should give them a chance.”
Ozturk said the POS was return within 24 hours.
He said they deleted their original social media video after it was returned.
Dining and Cooking