Kennewick mall restaurant robbed of nearly $5,000. Video footage helps nab manager

An employee at a Columbia Center mall restaurant claimed the theft of nearly $5,000 during a fake robbery was really just “an elaborate prank” on the business owner.

But when the employee returned to the mall after the staged crime to meet with Kennewick police, the bank deposit bags he turned over were short $677, court documents show.

Raheem G. Mayberry, 19, said he went along with the plan because his Orange Julius/Dairy Queen manager promised to give him a TV, documents said.

Manager Nadia C. Rodriguez told police a different story, claiming the agreement was for her and Mayberry to split the stolen cash.

On Monday, Rodriguez and Mayberry appeared in Benton County Superior Court for their alleged roles in the Dec. 23 scheme.

Rodriguez, 31, is charged with second-degree theft and false reporting.

Mayberry faces one charge of second-degree theft.

Two days before Christmas, police were called to the busy mall parking lot on Columbia Center Boulevard at 10:20 a.m. to investigate a robbery.

Rodriguez said she on her way across the parking lot to the Bank of America to deposit nearly $5,000 from the restaurant.

She said she’d been pushed to the ground by a man who snatched her purse and ran away. She said the robber was wearing a black sweatshirt and sweatpants, but otherwise she did not get a good look at him.

Officers took pictures of the scratches on her right arm, elbow and hands, and requested to see video surveillance from the mall, documents said.

Footage from the Macy’s entrance for the men and children’s section showed Rodriguez walk out a door at 10:14 a.m. holding a purse in her right arm. She also held a cellphone.

She stayed in the foyer between entrance/exit doors for four minutes, before leaving, court documents said.

Asked who she was texting during that time, Rodriguez claimed she was texting her assistant manager and an employee.

When confronted with the inconsistencies in her story, she agreed to tell police the male employee’s name but wanted a guarantee that a female assistant manager would not get in trouble, documents said.

She said the assistant manager had nothing to do with the plot.

Rodriguez then named Mayberry as the suspect who pushed her and took the money. She said they’d been planning the theft for a while, and that her role was to get the money and Mayberry was supposed to jump out and take it.

She admitted that Mayberry was the person she was texting while in the Macy’s foyer, court documents said.

Police called Mayberry to say they knew he was involved.

Officers told him to return the money, and Mayberry said he still had it and would bring it back to the mall, according to court records. That’s when he claimed it was a prank on his boss, the restaurant owner.

But when police talked again with Rodriguez, she denied it was a joke on the owner and said the staged robbery was real to get the cash, documents said.

That store is not affiliated with other Dairy Queen franchises in the Tri-Cities.

About 45 minutes later, Mayberry arrived at the mall carrying a plastic bag with two money deposit bags inside.

The bank bags were short $677. Police say they don’t know what happened to that money in the short time between the fake robbery and Mayberry’s arrest.

He continued to stick with his story that it was a prank.

This story was originally published December 30, 2019 at 3:14 PM.