BK Man Sent To Prison For Robbing Coney Island Restaurant: DA

BROOKLYN, NY – A 34-year-old Brooklyn man has been sentenced to prison after he broke into a Coney Island restaurant and stole $100,000 in 2022, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney.

Luis Mercado, of Coney Island, was sentenced by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Joanne Quinones to up to eight years in prison on Tuesday for robbing Gargiulo’s Restaurant, prosecutors said.

Mercado pled guilty to second-degree grand larceny and second-degree bail jumping back in March, according to the Brooklyn DA.

“Beyond breaking into Gargiulo’s, a beloved Coney Island landmark for more than a century, this defendant is a serial burglar who has shown that he will continue to commit crimes if he remains at large, necessitating today’s prison sentence, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said.

On June 29, 2022, at about 2 a.m., the owner of Gargiulo’s Restaurant noticed that an alarm had gone off and about $100,000 in cash was missing from a safe in the back office, prosecutors said.

Video surveillance captured Mercado and an accomplice breaking into the building. Mercado was arrested a week later.

Mercado then skipped a court appearance in August 2023 and was arrested in September for allegedly burglarizing a Lower East Side nightclub, prosecutors said.