Long Beach restaurants burglarized over weekend: Suspect sought
Authorities are investigating a string of restaurant break-ins that occurred over the weekend in Long Beach. At least three restaurants were hit, including The Breakfast Bar, Speak Cheezy, and Baja Sonora Mexican Restaurant.
The burglar was recorded on camera smashing windows and heading for the registers.
Police have not officially confirmed the three robberies are connected, but the businesses' owners see similarities.
Just before 4 a.m. Sunday, a suspect wearing a white mask and a gray hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants smashed through the front door of The Breakfast Bar at 3404 E. 4th Street and stole two registers.
About an hour later, a suspect with the same description was seen breaking into Speak Cheezy, a pizza restaurant located at 3950 E. 4th St., about a half-mile away The suspect, armed with what appears to be a five-foot long crow bar, pried the business's safe out of the cement wall, taking the safe along with around $7,000 worth of stolen cash.
Baja Sonora Mexican Restaurant, around three miles north of the two other businesses, located at 2940 Clark Avenue, was also broken into on Sunday morning.
"We've seen impacts since the pandemic on every major city in America," said Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson. "But, help is on the way."
He's hoping that the affected business owners will take advantage of the city's newly-launched fund, worth $350k, that has been set aside to help businesses hit by vandalism.
"We gave direction to city staff to begin a new program, identifying $1,500 grants to small businesses that have received some type of a loss or damage since last year," he said.
Funds given to businesses can be used for an array of expenses, including new doors, boarding up broken windows, operational costs or insurance deductibles.
Businesses are eligible to begin applying for the fund as soon as Feb. 22.