[MUSIC PLAYING]
GIO: This man looks like a regular shopper
coming in to pick up a few goods at his local convenience store.
He's anything but regular.
He opens up his blue bag and dives in.
He fills his bag with chips, cakes, candy, and soda.
And when he's done, he just walks out.
This man has been serial thieving
at the same convenience store for the better part of a year.
He's there so much they give him a nickname, Gatorade Man,
for his penchant for the thirst-quenching sports drink.
At least once a week, he waltzes in, grab some snacks,
then waltzes right back out.
Until one day, he walks in, fills up his bags,
and as he's about to walk out again--
MAN 1: Yeah.
GIO: --the clerks lock the doors.
He's trapped.
The clerk recognizes the man and presses
a button that locks the door.
He calls 911.
But this thief is not going to wait for police to arrive.
He kicks once, twice.
Still no luck.
He pushes and pulls at the door.
MAN 1: [INAUDIBLE]
GIO: He takes a running jump and kicks some more.
MAN 1: Uh, like a thief.
GIO: He puts the stolen drinks back
and drops the bag of poached goodies on the shelf.
MAN 1: Let me out.
Let me out, man.
You think I'm playing?
GIO: He grabs just one drink to help him in his quest--
MAN 1: He's knocking--
MAN 2: Let me out.
GIO: Escape.
Finally, after a solid five minutes
of kick and flying jumps, the Plexiglas comes off
and he crawls through.
And he's off again.
But in a surprising twist, the store's owner, Dennis Alloy,
finds an unconventional solution to ending the pilfer.
And here with us now is Dennis Alloy, the owner
of that convenience store.
Dennis, thank you so much for being here.
Hi, Gio.
Thanks for having me.
The Gatorade Man was constantly
targeting your store.
What kind of impact did that leave on you and your staff?
DENNIS ALLOY: Drives me crazy.
It takes a toll.
For my employees, I don't want them
confronting him physically.
It's just, it's just not worth any potential
bad result. He comes at will and gets away with it at will.
He would come in, oftentimes it was a few days in a row,
then I wouldn't see him for a little while,
then it would be a lot.
And these guys that work for me, they have some responsibility
in the store, and they feel terrible
when things like this happen.
There needs to be some consequences on what happens.
I'm not looking to throw someone in jail
and ruin their lives, you know, for what
is considered petty theft.
But there needs to be some consequence.
Dennis, how did you decide to put an end to this?
There was a local neighborhood guy.
We were just discussing what issues I have as a businessman,
and I talked about the crime and the shoplifting.
And I showed a picture of the Gatorade Man,
and the guy there from the neighborhood's
like, I know that guy.
And he's like, I'm going to take care of this for you.
And two days later he texts me and says, I want to meet you,
and I've got the guy here.
So let's have a meeting.
How did that meeting go?
I was not happy about him at that point.
He was a big problem.
He was terrorizing my employees.
He'd stolen from me multiple, multiple times.
So I went in with kind of an angry mood
and we started talking.
And I again, I don't want to put people in jail
for things like this and ruin them.
But we talked, and he kind of explained to me.
And you know, he was sincere and apologetic.
He talked about his drug problem and how he's been in rehab.
I felt like he was trying to address that.
And I think he understood that, you know, this had to end.
And we kind of know just shook hands.
He worked for me for a full day, probably 10 hours.
He scrubbed my dispensers and cleaned up the parking lot.
I saw him on the cameras as I was sitting in my office,
just to make sure he was doing what he had to do.
And actually, I wish I had--
my employees would do as good a job as he did.
So after the conversation, I hadn't
seen him for several weeks.
One night, I got a phone call from an employee saying, hey,
he's back.
And I'm like, no way.
But since that one relapse, I have not
seen him in the store since.
But the bottom line, it just had to stop.
And I think, overall, it worked out.