Manitoba pizzeria owner offers to help woman, kids who stole from restaurant

A Manitoba pizzeria owner is reaching out to a woman and her children who stole frozen pizza from his restaurant.

Damian Penner who is the owner of Rocco’s Pizzeria, in Steinbach, Man., posted a heartfelt message on its Facebook page Monday, asking if the family who stole the pizzas, needs any help.

This comes after a woman and her children stole eight pizzas Sunday evening. The entire theft was caught on the restaurant’s surveillance footage. Penner watched the footage Monday morning when he realized the pizzas were gone.

“The lady came in late at night with her kids and placed an order,” Penner said. “While sitting and waiting for her food, her children were distracting and causing a disturbance.”

Penner said the woman took advantage of the distraction and stole four frozen pizzas and put them in a bag. She went outside, put the pizzas in a car and then came back into the pizzeria.

“She came in with another bag, and then got her children to bring three to four other pizzas.”

The family then left and did not pay for anything, he said.

Penner said he decided not to call the police, but instead wanted to reach out to her online.

“You can’t continue to get your children to assist you in stealing, as they are young, impressionable, and still learning,” the post read.

“We saw someone in a bad situation in their life and I didnt want to judge this person,” he said. “Some people think I am enabling the theft, but I wanted to get a positive message out.”

Penner said Steinbach is a town of 15,000 people — and “everyone knows everyone”. He said posting a picture of her would do nothing but bring shame to her.

“The community is here to help,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The community is here to help," he said.

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He asked the woman to come and talk to him personally.

Penner said he has not heard from the woman yet.