ERIE, Colo. -- Employees of a sports restaurant who haven't been paid in nearly a month are literally taking matters into their own hands.

"Inside, we tried to get everything we could," said Alex Peregrino, a former BenchWarmers Tavern and Grill waitress and bartender in Erie.

All BenchWarmers locations closed abruptly this week. Its website lists three locations with actual addresses, and more than two dozen other planned locations in Colorado, Arizona, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri.

Operation management told employees they could take anything they could use or sell to get some money. Peregrino went for a 50-inch television.

"This one I'm going to keep, cause I needed a TV, but everything else I'm going to try and sell and see if I can make money off it, (so) I can pay at least one bill," said Peregrino.

She also loaded her car with bar supplies.

"Bottles, whipped cream, olives," said Peregrino. "This is what it came down to. We were getting so big and now all of a sudden we're stealing whatever we can and selling whatever we can."

BenchWarmers Vice President of Operations Sheri Farrell-Doe gave employees permission to raid the restaurant.

"I am under direct orders of the vice president of the principal of this organization," said Farrell-Doe. "I don't know how legal it is, but my main objective of operations is to make sure that my staff is taken care of."

Employees emptied the expensive items from the Aurora location near East Mississippi Avenue and South Abilene Street, on Thursday. By Friday, the city of Aurora had posted a "seized" sign on the front door, indicating the ownership had failed to pay more than $13,000 in taxes and fines.

"They came without pay, day after day after day," said Farrell-Doe. "We're sort of calling this, I guess, our Robin Hood crusade."

7NEWS drove by the corporate headquarters for BenchWarmers and left a voice mail with a managing partner. As of Friday night, BenchWarmers has not responded to 7NEWS.

At the Erie location, 40 to 50 employees are out of jobs. This weekend, those employees are planning a car wash at the restaurant to raise money for cooks and servers.

"We're going to line up all the memorabilia and sell it to help facilitate payroll," said Farrell-Doe. "We had guests come in and purchase TVs to help facilitate payroll."

On Saturday that car wash will start at 11 a.m. The Erie BenchWarmers is located at 3100 Village Vista Drive.