WATCH | Choc-in-transit heist: CCTV catches 'Sugar Daddy' in the act

Several bars of 87g bar of Fruit and Nut flavoured chocolate. That is the choice of sweet treat that the Heidedal Engen garage’s chocolate thief, who has since been dubbed the “Sugar Daddy” on social media, helped himself to each and every time he walked into the Bloemfontein outlet.

On Thursday, store manager, Papi Matsa told TimesLIVE that they had caught the man and his reign of chocolate thieving was probably over.

“He came back on Sunday not knowing that all my staff was already on the lookout for him. The staff waited for him to do the same thing he always does and as soon as he was about to leave the shop, they confronted him,” said Matsa.

The embarrassed man did not utter a word. Instead, he walked back to the shelves and replaced his loot before bolting out of the shop, with customers all looking at him, Matsa said.

“Sugar Daddy’s” modus operandi was always the same.

He would walk into the shop, head straight for the sweet aisle, pull his cellphone out of his pocket and start engaging in conversation, while grabbing as many bars of chocolate as possible.  He would then walk to the back of the shop with the chocolates in hand and pretend to be looking into the fridges while stuffing the chocolates into his belt. He would then casually walk out without paying for anything.

Despite looking straight into the camera on one of his thieving expeditions, he was seemingly unaware that all of his actions were being recorded.

Two of the videos were shared on the filling station’s Facebook page and have since gone viral.

Matsa told TimesLIVE that they did not know who the man was.

“He just used to come in every day and do the same thing. I noticed that something was wrong on the shelves and checked [the CCTV]. I notified my staff to look out for him and his vehicle,” said Matsa.

He said they were shocked to see who the thief was.

“This is something we would expect from children, not an adult. And he is probably someone’s father,” Matsa said.

They had chosen not to involve the police because “it was just a petty crime” but if anything, hope the trending footage is enough to keep him away from the sweet shelves in future.