Friend was robbed at Olive Garden

[D-FENS]

One of my best friends is the GM of the Olive Garden that was robbed. They put a gun to his head and made him open the safe. While he was doing so, they loaded a round into the chamber. They only got ~1500 and all were busted, including his two employees. He said they were waiting in the lobby while the other guys ran in and robbed it. The news article doesn't say this but I'll take his word for it.

Very scary. I'm just glad he's ok.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?n...id=43786&rfi=6

BALA CYNWYD - Four Philadelphia men - including two employees and one juvenile - are behind bars this week after police say they conspired and then committed an armed robbery at a Bala Cynwyd restaurant early Monday morning. Following the robbery, police said, the men used a handgun and shot their way out of a locked door.
According to police, at 12:18 a.m. Monday, two men wearing face scarves and hooded sweatshirts approached employees leaving for the night at the Olive Garden, 83 East City Ave., Bala Cynwyd and proceeded to rob the restaurant. At the time of the robbery, a third man waited outside in an SUV.
Authorities said two of the five men later arrested as co-conspirators were employees of the restaurant and were working at the time of the robbery.
The five arrested have been identified as Steven Montalmont, 21, of the 5200 block of Arlington Street; Jimmy Montalmont, 20, of the 5200 block of Arlington Street; Terrell Lee Harris, 21, of the 5200 block of Arlington Street; and Kendall Bazemore, 20, of the 5200 block of Berks Street all in Philadelphia and a juvenile. According to court documents, brothers Jimmy and Steven Montalmont were both employees of the restaurant at the time of the robbery.
All five men are charged with robbery, theft, receiving stolen property, criminal conspiracy, possessing instruments of crime, simple assault, harassment, recklessly endangering another person, committing crimes using firearms and destroying the serial numbers from a firearm. The juvenile has also been charged with possession of marijuana.
Witnesses gave police a description and a license plate number of the car.
Several hours later, Philadelphia police spotted the vehicle and arrested the juvenile, Harris and Bazemore.
After later interviewing Jimmy and Steven Montalmont, Lower Merion police arrested the two. According to police, both men admitted to officers that that had discussed the robbery with the juvenile and Harris and were in contact with the juvenile by phone shortly before the robbery.
All five men are currently being held in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility on $100,000 cash bail.

[TravisBickle]

Employees are ALWAYS involved in restaurant stickups.

[Nate]

all the more reason to keep a gun at your side.

[Gorgon]

Originally Posted by MorganB

Employees are ALWAYS involved in restaurant stickups.

Not true...

[JustinM]

Originally Posted by Nate

all the more reason to keep a gun at your side.

+1

It's better than having a gun put to your head and possibly getting killed over Olive Garden's money.

[1FingrCHan]

Originally Posted by TheHighChild

One of my best friends is the GM of the Olive Garden that was robbed. They put a gun to his head and made him open the safe. While he was doing so, they loaded a round into the chamber. They only got ~1500 and all were busted, including his two employees. He said they were waiting in the lobby while the other guys ran in and robbed it. The news article doesn't say this but I'll take his word for it.

Very scary. I'm just glad he's ok.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?n...id=43786&rfi=6

They robbed in Bala Cynwyd? I thought that is a Philly suburb that is "relatively" safe from all the crime in the city. Guess I got to watch where me foot is going, he he heh..


1FingrCHan

[dgg9]

Originally Posted by 1FingrCHan

They robbed in Bala Cynwyd? I thought that is a Philly suburb that is "relatively" safe from all the crime in the city.

It is safer from randomly selected street crime. But it sounds like that sort of "inside job" is neighborhood-independent.

Certain situations and scenarios are what's dangerous, not necessarily the locale. One of which is: any restaurant right around closing time.

[Emptymag]

THC,

Somehow I missed this thread.
How's your friend? That's pretty messed-up.

I was wondering about this part...

Following the robbery, police said, the men used a handgun and shot their way out of a locked door.

Did he talk about that? You always see it in the movies, but I thought that in real life, the criminal would be left scratching their head when the door didn't open after shooting the lock.

What was your friend's view on firearms before the incident?
Man, how hard would it be to trust your employees after having THAT happen? His interviews will probably include a criminal background check in the future!

[D-FENS]

Empty,

He told me about that and said that was the scariest moment of the robbery is when they shot out the windows. They didn't shoot the locks like you see in the movies, which is a really retarded idea for anyone that may be considering it.

He is/was a firearm owner before the incident and AFAIK doesn't feel any differently. That may be different had he not known it was an inside job. He's glad he didn't have a gun on him (not a CC guy).

As for background checks on the hiring process, it'd never happen. One of the few jobs felons can get is in a kitchen. Managers are happy to hire them because they know they'll do the work for shitty wages. It's very very very common practice in restaurant chains like Olive Garden, Red Lobster, etc to hire these people. It's just part of the process.

He's hoping to get a job with Corporate out of the whole thing. Right now, he's on well-deserved leave of absence.

[Holden23]

I browsed here from another thread, and after reading this decided it could help with something I've been trying to show my gf. I'm trying to make the case that Philly's violence problem is due to their poor criminal control, not because of a lack of gun control for law-abiding citizens. For instance, I heard that there are a lot of plea bargains, but have been trying to find specific examples.

Well, when I noticed that one of the people charged in this incident had a Philly address, I wanted to see if I could look up the records here:
http://ujsportal.pacourts.us/WebDock...a.aspx?mode=mc

I could, and from what I can tell, he was originally charged with 6 felonies and 5 misdemeanors. But from what I can tell, all of that was dropped and he was eventually charged with a 3rd degree misdemeanor for harassment and all the gun stuff was dropped.

I'm not a lawyer and don't have much experience with the criminal justice system, so I may be mistaken. I've attached the summary and docket if anyone can offer more insight.

Am I completely off-base here, or did this kid actually rob someone at gunpoint and have the charges reduced to harassment in a plea deal?

Thanks!