Police say accused meat thief caught on camera

An alleged thief is behind bars after police said he attacked the owner of a Downtown Orlando restaurant. Police said the incident was caught on surveillance video.

According to authorities, about a week ago, someone stole meat from the storage room at Baba's Orlando Restaurant.  Chris Shanwenda, an employee at Baba's, described footage recorded by security cameras showing a man entering the storage room  "There he goes with the steaks. He puts the steaks over there.  He's bagging it up, like a Santa Claus bag," he said.

Shanwenda said the owner filed a police report and then replaced the stolen items, but then on Sunday afternoon, they discovered it happened again. "This place was slammed," explained Shanwenda. 

According to investigators, owner Mahmoud Ali was assisting cooks when he went to the storage room and found 61-year-old Tyrone Chenault.  Shanwenda said Chenault picked up a knife and threatened Ali. "He [Chenault ] grabs the kitchen knife and starts moving it around trying to get him [Ali], and ends up cutting him [Ali] in the finger."

Police say someone standing outside the restaurant heard the owner screaming for help and then stopped the Chenault.  "Whacked him with a chair," said Shanwenda.  "It was actually a couple of people that helped him out, when they saw him going crazy with the knife."

Chenault is charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, burglary and petit theft.