While we take all forms of food theft very seriously, when someone commits a cheese-related crime, we get very annoyed. We’re none too pleased right now with the jerk who pilfered almost $2,000 worth of provolone from a Colorado eatery, a jerk whose crime is depriving potential customers of the enjoyment of eating cheese.

Police are looking for the provolone poacher who swiped the cheese — which the restaurant uses to make pizza — the overnight Tuesday, reports The Pueblo Chieftain.

According to police, the cheese thievery went down sometime on Tuesday night when the suspect broke into the restaurant, damaging doors in the process. A manager said the thief also broke through padlocks on a restaurant freezer to get to the cheese. Again, I can’t condone such actions, but that is some serious dedication to dairy.

All told, the thief boosted 19 cases of provolone cheese worth about $1,900. Cheese was the only item taken.

This isn’t the first time the restaurant’s provolone has been targeted recently, the manager says — it’s the third or fourth time in the last month and a half.

So far, 30 cases of cheese worth around $3,000 has been stolen. The manager believes one thief is responsible for all the recent thefts, and that he or she is trying to sell off the stolen products.

The manager says he and other restaurant folks think it’s the actions of a single suspect. But this time, the suspect was caught on security cameras the inn recently installed. Officials are now hoping the video images will help police track down the person responsible.

“It’s strange to us. This has never happened to us,” the manager says. “We’ve had some things in the past but never food items, you know? We’ve never had to worry about that and we’ve never had that problem. This guy has started looking at us and monitoring us.”

Provolone poacher hits Pueblo eatery [The Pueblo Chieftain]

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