"Beer bandit" strikes local restaurant

VANDALIA, Ohio (WDTN) - The bar at Ruby Tuesday is an inviting place, but one man has used that to take advantage of the restaurant.

"We have a guest who's pulling at the heart strings of some of our team members," says Steve Anderson, the Central Ohio Operating Partner at Ruby Tuesday.

The man first orders a drink, always a Yuengling beer.

Then he starts in with his story.

"The last time he came in he said he was coming home from a bachelor party and he had too much to drink and he was trying to make the right decision about getting a cab," Anderson says.

But the man doesn't have any money, so he pays for his drink with a Visa giftcard and asks for the rest of the balance in cash to pay for the cab.

Workers feel like they're helping him out.

"The team member thinking they were doing the right thing and protecting the best interest of the guest and helping this person not be on the road," Anderson says.

Many times the man will even leave a big tip.

It's only later that the restaurant finds the card didn't have much money on it and they're out the cash.

But by that time the "beer bandit" has already said goodbye Ruby Tuesday.

"He's definitely figured out a way he could go from restaurant to restaurant and manipulate these systems," Anderson says.

The man struck the Ruby Tuesday in Vandalia three times in the last few weeks.

It wants to make sure other restaurants don't fall victim to the "beer bandits" bad brew.

"We hope to catch him," Anderson says. "We won't make the same mistake again with this person."