Burglar leaves apology note for breaking into San Fernando restaurant

Security cameras at a San Fernando restaurant captured the moments a brazen burglar wrote an apology note right before raiding the cash register. 

"The note said they needed money for drugs, that they were sorry, and they won't be coming back," owner of Teriyaki Madness Mario Essary said. "I genuinely feel that they are apologetic. It's a sign of maybe remorse or guilt or whatnot of them doing what they need to do to feed their disease."

Someone smashed the store's front window on Tuesday. However, no one came inside until the burglary on Thursday. 

"The city of San Fernando has an increased drug addiction — a lot of homeless in the area," Essary said. "It's kind of expected I just would think there would be a little more patrol or more police presence in the city of San Fernando."

In addition to Essary's restaurant, several small businesses within a few blocks were burglarized, including the neighboring San Fernando Coffee Company. 

"It's really shocking, heartbreaking to say the least," general manager Matthew Martinez said. "I came in the morning to see that our window was just completely smashed open. The inside was all trashed; they had taken our POS, our register box."

During the week, ten businesses on the Maclay Corridor of the San Fernando Mall area were targeted. Security cameras captured a man breaking into another business and stealing their cash register.

"We know that cash register has been stolen, some many has been stolen," San Fernando Police Chief Fabian Valdez said. "Some of these are vandalism, the person would just break a window and then walk away. Or maybe not enter because an alarm had gone off, or they were scared off."

Valdez said he will put more officers on the street until they can arrest someone for the crimes. 

"We are going to start deploying additional resources, especially at night when we suspect these crimes are occurring," he said. "Don't be surprised if we have undercover officers dressed up as whatever they may be, again looking to catch the individuals in the act."

However, with no arrests yet, Valdez asked the community to help by reporting suspicious activity.