Security cameras at a San Fernando restaurant captured the moment a brazen burglar wrote an apology note just before looting the cash register.
“The note said they needed money for drugs, that they were sorry and that they weren’t coming back,” said Mario Essary, owner of Teriyaki Madness. “I really think they’re apologizing. It’s a sign of maybe remorse or guilt or something, that they’re doing what they have to do to feed their disease.”
On Tuesday, someone smashed the front window of the store, but no one entered until the break-in on Thursday.
“The city of San Fernando has an increased drug addiction — a lot of homeless people in the area,” Essary said. “It’s to be expected, but I would think there would be some more patrols or more police presence in the city of San Fernando.”
In addition to Essary’s restaurant, several small businesses within a few blocks were also burglarized, including the neighboring San Fernando Coffee Company.
“It’s really shocking, heartbreaking to say the least,” said General Manager Matthew Martinez. “I came in the morning and our window was completely smashed open. The inside was completely destroyed; they took our POS, our cash register.”
During the week, ten businesses in the Maclay Corridor of the San Fernando Mall area were attacked. Security cameras captured a man breaking into another business and stealing their cash register.
“We know of a cash register that was stolen, some of them were stolen a lot,” said San Fernando Police Chief Fabian Valdez. “Some of these are vandalism, the person would just break a window and then walk away. Or maybe they didn’t go in because an alarm went off, or they were scared.”
Valdez said he will put more officers on the streets until they can arrest someone for the crimes.
“We’re going to be deploying additional resources, particularly at night when we suspect these crimes are occurring,” he said. “Don’t be surprised if we have undercover officers dressed as whatever they are, trying to catch these individuals red-handed again.”
Since no one has been arrested yet, Valdez asked the community for help by reporting suspicious activity.
Amanda Starrantino
