Waterfront Eatery With Pager Problem Hires Diver; Was He a Police Agent?

When Chris Shake ran short of the pagers he gave to customers who wanted to stroll outside while awaiting a table at his Old Fisherman's Grotto eatery, he suspected a competitor of taking both his customers and the seating devices.

So the can-do Monterey, Calif., restaurateur set out to prove his suspicions, hiring a diver to search the bay under nearby Domenico's on the Wharf. The diver reportedly found 10 of Shake's pagers there, which led to a misdemeanor petty theft charge against Sam Mercurio, a co-owner of Domenico's, reports the Monterey County Herald. An undercover police officer also posed as a Domenico's customer in an effort to obtain additional evidence.

Now a lawyer for Mercurio, who has pleaded not guilty, is seeking to have the pager evidence thrown out, contending that the diver was a police agent. The attorney also argues that Mercurio had an expectation of privacy, since the restaurant is legally responsible, under its lease, for maintaining that portion of the wharf and a city ordinance prohibits diving there.