A middle-aged man has been arrested on felony charges for a scheme to defraud a Florida pizza joint after spending years impersonating the business to tourists.
Man charged with scheme to defraud Florida pizza joint
55-year-old Jose Marti-Alvarez is suspected of masquerading as a delivery driver for Roman’s Pizzeria in Miami.
Reports suggest he delivered pizzas that were either under-cooked or raw to tourists staying at hotels in Miami Springs, according to Local10.
He allegedly got the business by placing fake flyers promoting “Roman Pizzeria” in hotel rooms close to the local airport.
According to authorities, Marti-Alvarez has been operating the scam for a number of years, leading to numerous complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau and bad reviews directed at the real pizza place.
In addition to the charges for defrauding the business, he now faces an aggravated battery charge after reportedly attempting to escape from hotel staff and hitting one of them with his car when they caught on to his scam.
Owner of Florida pizza joint didn’t want man behind scheme to defraud him to be arrested
Jesus Roman, the owner of 40-year-old Roman’s Pizzeria, said that he has received complaints from customers that never ordered from the restraint.
He said the pizzas that were delivered to him were frequently “bad, uncooked, sometimes they (were sent) in a box with a piece of raw dough.”
Additionally, they were often incorrectly priced and not what was actually ordered.
Astonishingly, even though Roman’s business as been negatively effected by the scam, he didn’t actually want Marti-Alvarez to be arrested, though he acknowledged that getting him off the street was “something that had to happen to stop him.”
“It’s not the right thing to do – he could have done it the right way; this wouldn’t have happened,” he said about the suspect.
“I would like him to not use my restaurant’s name and if he uses his right name, then do the right food,” Roman added. “He could have his own business. He can do his own stuff. It’s his own name. There’s nothing wrong with that. We’re all here to work and get by. I appreciate that. I would like that.”
Following Roman’s report to police about the pizza scam, Marti-Alvarez was apprehended and charged with organizing a scheme to defraud. He has already been released on a $5,000 bond.
Kid’s lemonade stand robbed by adult villain
Meanwhile, in Virginia, two young siblings running a lemonade stand were robbed by an adult, with the incident captured on video.
Surveillance footage shows a car slowly approaching the children’s Chesapeake lemonade stand, followed by a man exiting the vehicle.
Rebecca Caldwell, aged 10, began to pour the man a lemonade, when he the jar containing their money and fled.
“We already got $40. It seemed pretty good, and then the guy came,” Rebecca told a local news outlet.
“He acted really nice. He was just saying, like, ‘Nice, y’all are doing a lemonade stand.’ And then he was getting pretty close, but my back was turned, so I didn’t really realize.”
Rebecca and her younger brother Josh Caldwell are seen in the video running inside to inform their mother of the robbery.
“I just wanted to find out who would do that, because they’re just innocent kids out here, you know, having lemonade stands,” said their mother, Annetta Caldwell.
Their father, Ryan Caldwell, said he’s less worried about the lost money than he is about his children being affected by the incident.
“I don’t think it’s really even about the money,” he commented. “They just like doing it and being out here and seeing people.”
“We don’t want that stolen away from them, you know, we want the fun, the innocence, to remain. So that’s probably the worst part — the stolen innocence involved.”
The parents said they filed a police report, and when officers arrived, they spoke about the theft with Rebecca and Josh.
“They’ve had a lot of follow-up with us,” Ryan stated. “They’ve been communicating well and stuff. So they’re, they’re very interested in helping and seeing this resolve.”
Rebecca and Josh are determined not to let the incident deter them from selling more lemonade. They plan to hold another lemonade stand on Saturday, Aug. 24.
this thief needs to have both his arms broken