Manager believes heist was inside job

CHINA GROVE, N.C. -- A Porky's Bar-B-Q restaurant employee was tied to a kitchen sink while robbers clean out the business's safe.

The restaurant in China Grove has a top-notch security system, but investigators say the two robbers knew when to strike and how to avoid detection.

James Johnson was taking out the trash early Monday morning when two men snuck up behind him.

"I was sitting there shaking the whole time," he said.

The men tied Johnson to a kitchen sink.

"He must have bound me like seven times because he wrapped it around my wrist really tight," Johnson said.

One robber watch over Johnson while the other went into the restaurant.

"He said, 'Don't move and nothing will happen,'" Johnson said.

"They got the combination to the safe, opened it up and they wiped it out," said kitchen manager Michael Helms.

The men also knew to take the computer, which records the feeds from 15 security cameras in the building.

"It was an inside job. I'm willing to put a bet on it," Helms said.

Since the men wore ski masks and gloves and got away with the surveillance footage, police don't have very good suspect descriptions.

One thing the men did leave behind is a frightened group of employees.

"I'm going to keep all the doors locked and I'm not going to go out until it's time for me to leave," Johnson said.

The manager told WCNC the crooks got away with hundreds of dollars in change. The restaurant is offering a $2,500 reward to anyone with information leading to an arrest.