Cocaine Included With Cheese Sticks Prompts Restaurant Shutdown

GRIFFITH, IN — A northwest Indiana restaurant will stay closed indefinitely as police investigate how a bag of cocaine wound up in a customer's order of cheese sticks. Broad Street Gyros first closed Nov. 22 after its business license was suspended, the Northwest Indiana Times Reported. The Griffith Town Council voted this week to extend the suspension as local police look into the case.

The suspension stems from a 911 call from a woman who placed a carryout order at the eatery on Nov. 21. The customer became suspicious after she got home with her order and received a call from a Broad Street Gyros employee asking if she got an order of cheese sticks by mistake.

When she said yes, the employee asked her to bring it back to the restaurant, the Times reported. When she refused, the employee reportedly asked for her address and offered to come pick it up.

The woman took a closer look at her food and found a bag containing a white powdery substance that later tested positive for cocaine, police said.

Police told the Chicago Tribune the customer had a recording of a message from a Broad Street Gyros employee. Gino, a Griffith police dog, signaled the presence of drugs near the sink in the women's bathroom and in an office drawer at the restaurant. No actual drugs were found, and the restaurant's owner told the city council that a woman working at the eatery the night of the incident is no longer employed there, according to the Tribune.

No criminal charges have been filed in connection with the case, Griffith Police Cmdr. Keith Martin told the Times.

Indiana State Police are reviewing surveillance footage from the Nov. 21 incident.

Broad Street Gyros' Facebook page, which had been fairly active up until late November, hasn't mentioned the shutdown, but did share new business hours several days before the incident. The eatery has been under new ownership since April, according to the page.

Image via Patch file by Denise Du Vernay