Jacksonville strip club employee accused of stealing $275,000 worth of jewelry, cash

Police arrested a Wacko's employee accused of stealing $275,000 worth of money and jewelry from his boss after his roommate told officers he'd been living like a rock star.

Samir Shihata, 37, was arrested Wednesday on grand theft charges.

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Officers began investigating Shihata on March 23 after someone at the business noticed cash, 150 gold coins and $30,200 worth of jewelry were missing from a safe at Wacko's.

The 150 gold coins were valued at $220,000 and $25,000 in cash was missing.

Shihata did IT and surveillance work for the club.

The employees told officers they suspected Shihata may have taken the items because they were the only three people with access to the office where the large safe was located.

They told officers Shihata did not have the code for the safe but they noticed a hole in a ceiling tile above the keypad that was big enough for a camera.

They said someone saw Shihata messing with the tile approximately two weeks before the theft.

Officers spoke with Shihata's roommate, who said Shihata had recently started spending a lot of money and living like a rock star.

He told them he woke up a few weeks prior and saw two gold coins on the coffee table at their house.

Shihata's girlfriend told police that Shihata took her on shopping sprees and spent thousands of dollars on her. She said he also bought scooters, cars and drones with money that she knew he did not get from working at his shop at the flea market.

She told officers that her brother found $10,000 in cash in Shihata's car and a friend of Shihata's said he found another $10,000 in his tent at Ginnie Springs.

Shihata's girlfriend told police Shihata showed her a ring approximately 5 or 6 weeks ago that he
told her he was going to have remounted to give her as an engagement ring.

Officers searched Shihata's home on April 12 and found in his room three bottles of Viagra that belonged to one of the theft victims.

He was arrested and charged with grand theft, petit theft and drug charges for some marijuana and paraphernalia officers found at his house.

Police began investigating the grand theft a week before Wacko's was raided by state agents.

Two dancers were arrested on narcotics and prostitution charges after reports that narcotics and prostitution were going on at the club.

Several safety violations temporarily shut down the club.

Cox Media Group