BRACKETT, OH—Police in Brackett are searching for a man who has spent most of the past year stealing cocaine from intoxicated people in bar bathrooms and leaving it, free of charge, in hospital break rooms, restaurant kitchens and truck stops across Summit Ridge County, a crime spree that has earned him the nickname "the Robin Hood of Bathroom Stalls" and, according to residents, "honestly a lot of goodwill."
According to the Brackett Police Department, the suspect, described as a white or possibly Hispanic male of average height who "moves very quietly for a guy with a fanny pack that full," has been entering the single- and multi-stall restrooms of bars along the city's Third Street strip since at least January, waiting until patrons are sufficiently drunk, and relieving them of their supply.
"He's taken eleven pounds this year," said Sgt. Dale Kerchoff, 56, standing outside a taped-off men's room at the Rusty Anchor Tavern as an evidence technician dusted a stall door and several patrons ducked under the tape to use it anyway. "He only robs people who can't feel their face." Kerchoff said the department has not received a single complaint from a victim, "mostly because of how the complaint would have to start."
At three of the scenes, investigators recovered a handwritten note left on the sink. Each read: "TAKEN FROM THE DRUNK. GIVEN TO THE NIGHT SHIFT. — R.H."
The night shift, for its part, has noticed. "He leaves it in the break room every Friday," said Denise Okafor, 51, a charge nurse at Summit Ridge General, speaking outside the emergency department's ambulance bay as two paramedic teams sprinted gurneys past her. "Our wait times are down forty percent." Okafor said hospital administrators have declined to comment on the improvement, but have quietly stopped asking why.
Researchers say the case is less surprising than it sounds. Swab tests of bar and pub restrooms have found traces of cocaine in nearly every one tested, and federal surveys consistently rank food-service workers first among all occupations for illicit drug use. "In a sense he's not adding anything to the economy," said one county public-health official who asked not to be named. "He's just moving it to where the hours are."
On Third Street, patrons interviewed late Saturday were largely unbothered. "Honestly, I wasn't using it right anyway," said Brittany Sowalski, 34, holding her heels in one hand.
Others had procedural concerns. "He took mine and left a receipt," said Hector Villanueva, 46, holding up a small slip of paper. "It's not even itemized."
In the alley behind the Lucky Wok, line cook Gary Pruitt, 61, said the thefts had changed his life. "I've worked doubles since 1994," Pruitt said. "Tuesday I saw my kids awake."
An online fundraiser started on the suspect's behalf by "a grateful respiratory therapist" has raised more than $200,000 since Thursday. Among the listed donors is the Brackett Police Department, which contributed $500 from its community-outreach fund and described the gift as "an administrative error we stand behind."
At press time, the department had issued a notice reminding residents that bar restrooms along Third Street are now single-occupancy by order, that anyone with information on the suspect should call the non-emergency line, and that residents are asked to keep an eye on their drink, their fanny pack and, if possible, their face.
Comments
Post a Comment