A man has been charged with swiping 38 kegs from the rear of an Asbury Park restaurant
A former employee of Porta pizza in Asbury Park has been charged with stealing 38 empty beer kegs from the back of the restaurant.
Asbury Park police say the restaurant on Kingsley Street reported numerous kegs had been stolen in April and May and they tapped Detective Dillon Gourley to investigate.
He identified Ryan Kircher, 35, of Neptune City, as a suspect. On Wednesday, Kircher gave the detective a full confession, admitting he swiped 38 kegs and was selling them to a local scrap yard, police said.
Gourley was able to locate 14 kegs and return them to Porta.
The empty kegs are worth $150 each, police said, and Porta lost out on $1,200 in fines for not being able to return the empties to breweries.
Kircher was charged with third-degree theft of property and released from police custody on a summons with a pending court date, the police department said.
Porta also has locations in Jersey City and Philadelphia.
Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
