Colorado cheese thief makes off with over $5,000 worth of provolone

The Do Drop Inn is missing pounds of provolone.

The owners of a Colorado pizza joint say there’s a cheese thief in their midst after $5,000 to $7,000 worth of provolone has gone missing from their kitchen since mid-March.

Hoss Kashani, owner of The Do Drop Inn based in Pueblo, Colo.—told KRDO that he noticed he had run out of cheese about a month ago. Despite the high volume of pizzas his shop prepares, Kashani says completely running out of cheese was unusual.

"Middle of the week I ran out cheese and I was like, 'Oh my God'," said Kashani.

After looking into the issue, the restaurant owner says he realized the cheese had been stolen and that more provolone continued to disappear  from his stores throughout the month.

Kashani installed new locks and security cameras to apprehend any potential criminals. On Tuesday, the cameras caught someone going to the refrigerator after hours, mining through the fridge and nearly clearing it out. During the heist, the thief allegedly used a stick or pole to push the camera up so it couldn't see him loading all the cheese into the truck, says Kashani.

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Over the past month, Kashani claims the thief has stolen almost 2,000 pounds of provolone amounting to $5,000 to $7,000 in total damages.

"The impact is high. So we have to sell tons, tons of pizza to cover our loss," said the pizza shop owner.

Kashani believes the thief is selling the cheese to local food distributors at a discounted rate.

"For one person, I don't think one person can eat that many sub sandwiches. Or make that much pizza. In my opinion, this person is a buyer," said the restaurant owner.  "I don't know who is that person but it is not right."

Kashani has since released an image of the alleged criminal caught on the security camera on social media, hoping it will bring about more information. Pueblo police confirmed to KRDO that they are investigating the theft.