LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A man is facing multiple charges after posing as a health inspector and entering fast-food restaurants in order to steal from them. According to the arrest report, 22-year-old Dimitar Kolev chose fast-food restaurants because he thought the young kids working there would be “easy to manipulate.”
On July 3, Las Vegas police received calls from two different fast-food restaurants claiming that a man posing as a health inspector had entered their businesses and asked to see the safe inside before attempting to take the money.
The report states that Kolev entered the first restaurant at around 8 p.m. after the lobby of the restaurant had already closed. Kolev put a fake health inspector badge up against the window and told the manager that she legally had to let him in, or he would fail them.
According to the report, Kolev walked around the business, taking temperatures and moving things around. He was even looking at cracks and dirt on the floor while marking things on his clipboard. Kolev then told the manager on duty that he needed to “check the safe for rust.”
The manager opened the safe for Kolev, taking the money out and placing it in a bag. Kolev then told her that he left his cell phone in his car and that he would be right back, the report stated. The manager noticed that he was trying to walk out with the money bag and was able to wrestle it back from Kolev before he left.
He attempted to re-enter the business but left when he realized the manager was calling the police the report said.
Shortly after 9 p.m., Kolev entered a different fast-food restaurant from a different chain and used the same trick to gain entrance. The employee there told police that Kolev was looking around the back area of the restaurant and marking things on his clipboard.
The employee specified to the police that Kolev “got upset about the pickles”, which distracted the employee enough that they didn’t question it when Kolev asked to check the safe.
Kolev made comments about how the safe was a mess before taking the money out and starting to leave. When the employee tried to stop him, Kolev said he was going to contact the manager. According to the arrest report, Kolev took approximately $240 and left his clipboard behind.
After asking for the public’s help, police received a tip identifying Kolev and located him on Monday, Aug. 8.
In an interview with police, Kolev said that his father had recently cut him off financially and he had changed his “perspective of the world.” He claimed that he “no longer wanted to play by the rules” and didn’t want to get a job to get money.
Kolev told police that he went to Walmart and bought a clipboard before making a checklist on his personal computer in order to better play the role of a health inspector before “practicing” at three donut shops. At the third shop, he was able to steal approximately $700, according to the report.
According to police, Kolev knew he needed a badge, so he used his “Private Investigators Licensing Board ID card.” He started laughing and told police that he could not believe his plan had worked. He also told police that he focused on the pickles at the second restaurant in order to distract the young employee there.
When police asked Kolev why he was doing this, he told them that “society is a mess” and he “doesn’t like how the system is set up.” According to the report, he told them that he would continue to commit crimes after he gets out of jail.
He also told police about his plans to “bring more people onboard his scheme,” and that he plans to have 20 people involved by the end of the month. Kolev told police that he didn’t have any remorse and didn’t feel bad about taking from businesses.
Kolev was booked for two counts of burglary and two counts of impersonating a public officer. He is being held at Clark County detention center on $10,000 bail.