Article published January 07, 2009
Police: Man loots eatery, calls cab
Toledo taxi driver leads officers to suspect in Manos break-in
By LAREN WEBER
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Call it theft by cab.
Toledo cab driver Harold Webb said he wasn't suspicious - at first - when a passenger he picked up near a downtown restaurant was toting three flat-screen televisions, followed by several boxes of liquor.
After all, the man had a reason for having all that loot: He claimed the restaurant was filing for bankruptcy and he was taking the property to his boss.
But when the passenger told him he had $3,000 worth of property he could sell - to pay the nearly $20 owed for cab fare - Mr. Webb realized he unknowingly had helped an alleged thief flee.
"That's when the light bulb in my head went off," said Mr. Webb, who has worked for the Black and White Cab Co. for about 2 1/2 months. "My suspicions were confirmed then that the stuff was [stolen]."
Daniel Standridge, 33, of North Toledo, was charged in connection with the incident on two counts of breaking and entering at Manos Greek Restaurant, 1701 Adams St.He remained in the Lucas County jail last night in lieu of a $5,000 bond. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for today in Toledo Municipal Court.
After he was picked up in an alley near Manos about 7:30
a.m. Dec. 28, Mr. Standridge asked the cab driver to take him to 1302 Nevada St., according to a police report.
Once they arrived, the suspect went inside the house to get money for the cab fare, but returned with a debit card and asked to be taken to a nearby ATM, police said.
Mr. Webb drove to a carryout at Nevada and East Broadway streets, but Mr. Standridge only had $9 of the nearly $20 fare.
Mr. Standridge then offered to settle the bill by selling the property he said he had.
When Mr. Webb called police, Mr. Standridge went inside the Nevada Street address and then apparently sneaked out a back window, according to a police report.
Police crews later went to Manos and found a window on a side door had been broken and the security keypad had been pulled from the wall near the bar. They also found Mr. Standridge's wallet on a back stairway of the restaurant, the report said.
Officers called the owner, who came to the eatery and identified the stolen items as property of the restaurant. The televisions, liquor, and a wooden magazine rack were returned to the owner, police said.
Mr. Standridge was arrested a few hours later at the Spaghetti Warehouse, where he worked.
Mr. Webb, who was a cab driver in Detroit for about 37 years before coming to Toledo, said this wasn't the first time something like this has happened to him.
A person he picked up several years ago while in Michigan loaded several items into his car and asked to be taken to another location, Mr. Webb said. He said he was later told by police that the person had broken into the house and stolen the property.
Toledo police property Lt. David Schmidt said such incidents are not common.
But oddly, there were at least two other similar reports of people calling cabs to take them to or from burglaries within a week of the incident involving Mr. Standridge.
"It's not the latest crime trend," Lieutenant Schmidt said. "It's a rarity."
Contact Laren Weber at:
lweber@theblade.com
or 419-724-6050.
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