Family Targeted In Jan. Burglary Asking For Help In Recovering Priceless Family Photos, Heirlooms
EAST LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — An East Los Angeles family is pleading for help in recovering priceless valuables that were taken from them when they were targeted in a January burglary, in which four thieves stole their 1,000 pound safe, straight out of their family-run grocery store.
They don't want the money back, which they know is already long gone. They just want the priceless photos and documents that have been passed down through the family for generations.
Francisco Ramirez started a string of local business in the community he loved, after immigrating to the United States from Mexico with next-to-nothing. He started off making tortillas, before he was able to turn his profit into several butcher shops and grocery stores in the 1970's.
He passed away in 2019, and after serving the community for so many years, his family is hoping that they will in turn give back to him and his loved ones in their search for these priceless items.
La Blanquita Carniceria and Tortilleria was struck by four burglars on January 25, when they broke through the front door and headed straight up to where the family kept their 1,000 pound safe, after checking areas of the store where people may have been working late.
In order to get up those stairs though, they had to walk straight past the family patriarch himself - or at least a large picture of Francisco that's hanging in the business.
"They looked him in the eye as they did it," said Enrique Rodriguez, the CEO of the grocery store, "He's right out here in our lobby."
In order to get the massive safe down the stairs, the thieves simply rolled it, damaging the staircase and walls in the process. Once they were able to get the safe outside, the thieves loaded it into what authorities have now confirmed is an Infiniti QX80 - worth around $80,000.
Rodriguez said that Francisco would've had more than a few choice words for the suspects, both in English and Spanish. "He would've said a lot of things that can't be said on TV," Rodriguez fondly recalled of his beloved family member.
He said very few people knew about the safe, and its location in their upstairs offices and that the betrayal would have left Ramirez "hurt and angry."
Still, the family is hopeful, despite knowing the unlikely chance that they'll get everything in the safe back, they only care about the family mementos.
"It's the stuff that was in the safe that money can't buy that breaks my heart," Rodriguez said, "That's what we want to get back."
They kept childhood photos of Francisco, military documents from when he served in the Mexican military during his youth and little odds and ends that reminded the family of who their patriarch really was.
"Lots of things that only mean something to us," Rodriguez continued to relay to CBS reporters, "Best case scenario is we show up and there's a box with all our stuff in it."