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ST. LOUIS – St. Louis Police announced its burglary squad arrested two people suspected of stealing meat on several occasions over a three-month span from a south city barbecue restaurant.

“It was a big problem and it’s hung over our heads significantly for a while and so we couldn’t be more thrilled that we have some resolution here,” said Tom Schmidt, Co-owner of Salt + Smoke.

According to St. Louis Police, overnight on January 28th, March 7th and most recently April 3rd the suspects were caught on camera at Salt + Smoke, on Hampton Avenue in the St. Louis Hills area, stealing brisket and pork butt from an outside smoker which they damaged in the process.

Detectives traced the suspects’ vehicle from surveillance and arrested the suspects, a man, and a woman, at a home in the 500 block of Jeffords in Lemay, Missouri. According to police, after stealing the meat, the suspects sold it to their neighbors who bought it not knowing it was stolen.

“Thank you to the police, it really means a lot that they were able to track this down and follow through and get these arrests and make us feel better about going to bed at night and know that we can open tomorrow and just serve a great barbecue,” Schmidt said.

Police said both suspects made audio recordings admitting to the thefts.