Man Arrested In Cheesesteak Beef Incident

JANUARY 7--A patron was arrested after causing a disturbance at a Florida café when he was served a Philly cheesesteak sandwich on a sesame seed bun, cops report.

According to investigators, Joseph Lagana, 27, was collared yesterday afternoon at the Gunn Highway Flea Market in Odessa, a Tampa suburb.

As detailed in a complaint affidavit, Lagana “began a verbal altercation” with a cashier after “getting a sesame seed bun on a Philly cheesesteak.” Lagana, seen at right, ordered the cheesesteak from Missy Mae’s Café inside the flea market.

The classic Philly cheesesteak comes on a smooth, seed-free hoagie roll.

Cops say that after Lagana, a southern California native, argued with the cashier, he “engaged in an altercation with a male who did not wish to press charges for battery.” When sheriff’s deputies questioned Lagana, he “was being loud and argumentative to multiple patrons at the flea market.”

Lagana, who appeared “heavily intoxicated evidenced by slurred speech and loss of fine motor skills,” was arrested for disorderly intoxication, a misdemeanor. Lagana’s rap sheet includes a multitude of arrests for crimes like battery; burglary; criminal mischief; marijuana possession; probation violation; and grand theft.

In a Facebook post, the flea market’s proprietors made light of the cheesesteak imbroglio, apologizing to customers for the incident “where as a sesame seed bun apparently was insulted and attack by a young man.” (2 pages)