Stranger passes self off as Jons’ owner

Darleene Barrientos

The workers of a local grocery store fell victim to another kind of

burglary five days after it was the site of a takeover robbery in

which two men allegedly stole $820 from three employees and tied them

up.

A night supervisor at Jons Marketplace was duped by “Jack,” a man

who called the store at 5:55 a.m. Thursday claiming to be the store’s

owner, police reports said. Jack told the night supervisor to gather

tequila, limes, Coca-Cola, 7Up, watermelons, beer, charcoal, and

salt, for an employee who would pick them up. Jack gave the

supervisor his phone number, although police reports did not specify

why the number was given.

A blue taxi showed up 10 minutes later and a man came into the

store, asking for the items. The supervisor told the man as he

gathered the items that he did not have access to the liquor cabinet

for some of the items, reports said.

The supervisor called the manager and asked about gaining access

to the cabinet, the report said, and the manager told the supervisor

to wait until he arrived.

The man asked the supervisor to give him whatever was available.

When the supervisor asked him if he knew where to go with all the

items, the man asked for the number Jack had given and said that was

all he needed, the report said.

The owner of the store, Jack Berberian, told his employees and the

police that he never called the store, the report said. Berberian

called the phone number given by Jack and offered the man a job if he

would come to his office, the report said.

The man asked Berberian if he would pay him $5,000 a month, and

then expressed doubt at coming in because he thought Berberian would

call the police.

The man was described as 5 feet 9 inches tall, 165 pounds, with short gray hair and a gray beard. He appeared to be in his mid- to

late 40s and was wearing a black sport coat, black T-shirt, black

slacks and black shoes.

Anyone with information about this incident can call Crime

Stoppers at 507-7867.