Comfort Inn employee puts a would-be thief on ice

By ELLEN KOLMAN - Staff Writer - ekolman@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon

SAYBROOK TOWNSHIP March 31, 2009 09:04 pm

— A quick-thinking kitchen employee of the Comfort Inn, 1860 Austinburg Road, put a would-be thief on ice around 12:50 p.m. Monday.
Ashtabula County sheriff’s deputies arrested William D. Nagle Jr., 44, 3399 Knowlton Road, Rock Creek, on charges of criminal trespassing, disorderly conduct and theft, after Comfort Inn employees called the Sheriff’s Department to report a suspected thief was locked in their freezer, according to reports.
A 24-year-old kitchen employee from Geneva told deputies he was working in the kitchen when an unknown male (Nagle) walked in and asked for Carl. The restaurant formerly was known as Carl’s Steakhouse. The employee told Nagle he did not know Carl. Nagle then told the employee he used to be a cook there and that he should “take a walk because he was going to steal some food” and proceeded to walk into the freezer, according to reports.
The employee then closed and locked the freezer door, with Nagle inside, and ran to the front desk to ask the employees to call the Sheriff’s Department.
When deputies arrived, they found Nagle belligerent, uncooperative and shouting obscenities. They also could smell alcohol on his breath. The deputies then placed him under arrest and transported him to the Ashtabula County Jail.