Restaurant worker on federal probation arrested for taking food home

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Darius Jamohn Polite, 32, was arrested yesterday for allegedly taking uncooked shrimp home from his restaurant job; despite the low dollar value of the theft, the charge is a felony.

On May 10, a Gainesville Police Department officer responded to Another Broken Egg Cafe (3265 SW 34th Street), where a manager said surveillance video showed Polite taking uncooked food — 64 uncooked shrimp (eight portions) and one sausage link (a single portion), worth a total of $45.

The manager said the food cost has recently reflected a larger shortage than usual, and after some employees were given new responsibilities in response to the shortage, one of these new employees asked the manager whether they could take food home; when the manager said they could not, the employee said Polite had taken food. The manager reviewed surveillance video and confirmed the theft.

Post Miranda, Polite reportedly said back-of-house employees are allowed to take food home, both cooked and raw; he said he does this often and implied that he does it on almost every shift. He said the employees are not required to ring up their food or log it in any way, and he was adamant that employees are allowed to take food home. Although he did not deny taking food on May 10, he disputed the amount that was taken.

The owner reportedly told the officer that back-of-house employees are allowed one meal per shift, and the meal must be selected from a list of approved meals, posted in the kitchen; the owner said the list excludes higher-value items like seafood.

Polite was also booked on a warrant for petit theft from July 2025, alleging that he went to Winn-Dixie (1459 NW 23rd Avenue), placed merchandise in a cart, and then went through self-checkout and placed a Kool-Aid packet under each item, scanning the Kool-Aid packet price for each item; this resulted in a loss of $27.29 to the business.

Polite has been charged with theft by an employee of a public food service establishment (a felony) and petit theft. He is on federal probation after serving an 8-month federal sentence for wire fraud; he was ordered to pay $532,757.49 restitution in that case. Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail on the new charges at $12,000.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.