The incident dates back to 2011, when the suspect, then a 27-year-old employee at a Burger King location in Georgia, was entrusted to close the restaurant one night. Instead of locking up, he reportedly emptied the safe, took the day’s earnings, and vanished before morning.

At first, his coworkers thought something terrible had happened. “He was quiet, reliable — no one saw it coming,” one former employee recalled. But when investigators reviewed surveillance footage, the truth became clear: he had calmly taken the cash, walked out the back door, and never returned.

For years, police followed dead-end leads. The suspect’s car was later found abandoned several miles away, leading some to believe he’d fled the country. The case eventually went cold.

That changed earlier this year, when authorities in another state made a routine traffic stop and ran the driver’s license through their system. What came back shocked everyone — it was the long-missing Burger King thief, now living under a false identity.

Police say the man had completely reinvented himself, moving across state lines, working odd jobs, and even starting a family. Neighbors described him as “friendly” and “hardworking,” unaware of his past.

“He lived right under everyone’s noses,” said one investigator. “For over a decade, he managed to build a new life while one simple mistake — a stolen $2,000 — hung over him.”

When confronted, the man reportedly confessed to the theft immediately. “I was young, broke, and stupid,” he told police, expressing deep regret. “I never thought they’d still be looking for me after all this time.”

He now faces charges of grand theft and fraud, as well as potential additional penalties for identity falsification. Authorities are still investigating how he managed to acquire new documents and maintain a false identity for so long.

The story has gone viral online, with many debating whether the man deserves leniency after more than a decade of staying out of trouble. Some social media users sympathized, saying the punishment no longer fits the crime. “He stole $2,000, not millions,” one commenter wrote. “Thirteen years of looking over his shoulder is punishment enough.” Others, however, insist justice must be served. “You can’t just walk away from a crime and pretend it never happened,” another user argued.

The local district attorney’s office confirmed that while the amount stolen was relatively small, the deliberate act of fleeing and living under an alias makes the case more serious.

As of now, the suspect is being held in custody while awaiting trial. Authorities say the missing money was never recovered — and neither was the peace of mind he lost running from a mistake that finally caught up with him.