Thieves stole $1,188 of meat from Kroger, got pulled over for littering, Texas cops say
The roast police say they found in the glove box of a car Sunday was just the tip of the meat mountain they were about to find.
Deputies also found a T-bone steak under the driver’s seat of the vehicle they’d just pulled over, according to a news release from Montgomery County Precinct 3 Constable Ryan Gable.
That led the deputies, who originally pulled the car over after seeing an aluminum can fly from one of the car’s windows, according to the release, to two plastic tote bins — one in the backseat and one in the trunk.
And inside those tote bins is where police say they found the rest of the nearly $1,200 worth of stolen meat.
At some point during the traffic stop, a call came in from a nearby Kroger grocery store in the town of Spring, about 30 miles north of Houston. Thieves had piled $1,188 worth of beef, pork and shrimp into a car and left without paying, apparently.
The Kroger is less than two miles from where police pulled over the car with the roast leaning out of the glove box. Police say the car’s license plate matched the license plate called in to police from the robbery, according to KPRC.
The seizure included 14 trays of steaks and 17 bags of frozen shrimp, but also included one baby-shower-themed gift bag and two Glade air fresheners, according to photos of the bust released by authorities.
Michael Cordova, 52, the passenger in the car deputies pulled over Sunday, was arrested and faces a felony theft charge, according to jail records. He was charged with a felony because, according to court records, he has multiple theft convictions on his record.
Police said they expect to arrest the driver of the vehicle as well.
This story was originally published December 18, 2018 at 8:53 AM.
