Thief STEALS $25k in Dollar Bills From Strip Club!

The most telling detail in this San Diego strip club heist is not the $25,300 in singles, but the alarm code that points straight back to a fired manager.

Story Snapshot

Thief caught on camera taking $25,300 in one-dollar bills from Exposé strip club.
Owner says the suspect used an alarm and safe code tied to a recently fired manager.
Surveillance shows the intruder moving like he already knew the layout and target.
The case highlights how inside jobs and employee theft can gut cash-heavy small businesses.

The break-in that looked more like a guided tour

Early on a Monday morning in Kearny Mesa, a masked man hopped a fence at Exposé, a gentlemen’s club on Kearny Villa Road, and slipped inside. Cameras captured him moving through the building with little hesitation, heading straight toward the room where the safe sat loaded with one-dollar bills. This was not a clumsy smash-and-grab. The suspect appeared calm, almost methodical, like someone following instructions rather than taking wild guesses in the dark.

By the time he walked back out, he carried off $25,300 in singles, the kind of cash pile only a strip club builds in a weekend of tips and stage money. For a big chain, that might be a bad day. For a single-location small business, that is payroll, rent, and a chunk of survival gone in minutes. The amount was precise, not random. The owner, Marine veteran and club operator Dino Palmiotto, said the thief “knew exactly where to go” to get it.

The alarm code that changed the story

The heist moved from strange to suspicious when the alarm company called Palmiotto after the break-in. Someone had disarmed the system using a specific code. At Exposé, each employee who can access the safe has a unique alarm and safe code tied to their own name in the system. That design is basic security best practice; it lets the owner see who keyed in and when, and it makes shared passwords harder to hide.

The code used that morning did not belong to a current worker. It was linked to a former manager who had been fired about two months earlier. That detail turned Palmiotto’s attention from some random outsider to the club’s own circle. From a conservative common-sense view, it is hard to ignore that link. When an ex-manager’s personal code unlocks the alarm for a stranger who walks right to the safe, the odds of pure coincidence look very small.

Inside job suspicion and what we actually know

Palmiotto has said bluntly that he believes this was an inside job, with the suspect getting help from someone connected to the club. He even claimed the thief seemed to be talking to someone on the phone while moving through the building, as if checking directions in real time. That fits a familiar pattern in high-cash businesses, where insiders with codes, keys, or knowledge quietly open the door for outside muscle to do the dirty work.

Police in San Diego have confirmed they are investigating but have not publicly backed the inside job claim or named suspects. No public record shows that the former manager has been charged or that any forensic audit has pinned direct responsibility on them. The use of their code is a strong red flag, but it is not yet a courtroom-level proof. From a rule-of-law standpoint, that matters. Accusations without full evidence can turn into defamation and wrongful-blame territory, especially in close-knit workplaces.

Why strip clubs are a soft target for employee theft

This theft also fits a growing pattern in the adult entertainment industry. Strip clubs run on cash, tips, and late hours, which creates big piles of money, complex tip splits, and lots of trust-based systems. City labor investigators in Denver, for example, found clubs there owed about $14 million in back wages and penalties for wage theft against entertainers and staff, showing how often money flows are messy and abused behind the scenes.

Thief steals over $25K in one dollar bills at Kearny Mesa strip club https://t.co/8eMRJoQUur

— CBS 8 San Diego (@CBS8) July 1, 2026

Security experts and insurers warn that employee crime often hits where oversight is weak and one person controls too many steps, like handling cash and balancing records alone. When codes are not changed quickly after someone is fired, or when access logs are not reviewed, former insiders can still open doors for themselves or friends. Conservative values about personal responsibility and strong business discipline line up cleanly here: owners must lock down access, but employees must also be held accountable when they abuse trust.

Hard lessons for small business owners

For small business owners, especially in cash-heavy trades, the Exposé heist is a sharp reminder that the biggest threat often wears a familiar face. Security advisers push simple but strict steps: unique codes for each worker, immediate code changes when someone leaves, surprise audits, and a culture that makes theft a clear firing and criminal offense, not a slap on the wrist. Done right, these steps protect honest staff and make it harder for bad actors to hide.

Palmiotto has reportedly increased security and offered a reward for information leading to an arrest. That is the public side of the fight. The private side is tougher: combing through alarm logs, questioning past managers, and deciding whether to trust or terminate people based on what the evidence shows. For readers who own or manage any business, the real takeaway is simple. If you do not control who can touch your cash and systems, someone else will—and you may not like what they decide.