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Tip Jar Thief Puts Starbucks Customer in the Hospital

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The customer was hit in the head with a 40 pound metal sign.

Thieves can't resist the tip jars at Starbucks.
Thieves can't resist the tip jars at Starbucks.
Rob Wilson/Shutterstock

An Orange County Starbucks customer who stopped in for a cup of coffee ended up in the hospital instead. According to CBS Los Angeles, on Saturday night 26-year-old Francisco Cardenas snatched the coffee shop's tip jar off the counter and bolted. A customer followed him into the parking lot and confronted him, at which point Cardenas "allegedly grabbed a 40 pound metal sign, and struck the customer in the head."

The suspect then rode off on a bicycle, but was soon apprehended by police. He was arrested on theft and assault charges, while "the victim was transported to a hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries."

Apparently jars full of cash are just too hard to resist for some: Last month a sticky-fingered Beverly Hills woman who earned herself the nickname "Tip Jar Bandit" was arrested when she was caught pinching out of the tip jar at a coffee shop.

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