Employer Jailed for Unusual Firing

Adel Yasser Berry, 25, pleaded no contest to charges filed after he allegedly threatened an employee with a gun before firing him. (Photo: Shutterstock)

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The manager of a Canton gas station police said fired an employee at gunpoint because he thought he was giving food and lottery tickets to his friends has been sentenced to three months in jail.

In addition to the jail sentence, to be served at the Wayne County Jail, Adel Yasser Berry, 25, was recently placed on two years probation by Wayne County Circuit Judge Dana Margaret Hathaway, The Observer & Eccentric reports.

Berry’s Aug. 20 sentencing came after he pleaded no contest to a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dismissed felony firearm and misdemeanor assault charges.

The charges stem from a Feb. 24 incident at the BP gas station at Ford and Haggerty Roads.

Police said Berry covered surveillance video cameras and climbed a ladder in the back office of the station and threatened the worker, a 23-year-old man from Westland. He then pushed the employee in the chest and ordered him out of the gas station. No shots were fired, but police did turn up an unloaded handgun when they searched the office.

The fired worker admitted he had given his younger brother a container of Muscle Milk, but denied other allegations of theft.

A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt, but is treated as such in sentencing. Before the plea deal, Berry could have spent four years in prison.

Police became involved in the dispute when Berry reported that the former employee was sending harassing text messages.

Berry will be eligible for work release and will spend part of his service performing community service, the report said. He was given credit for three days in jail.