Music Store Owner Says City Billed Him After Burglary Attempt
MANTECA (CBS13) — A Manteca music store owner is sounding off at city hall after he got a bill for the police response to a series of burglaries at his business.
"It's discouraging," business owner George Janis said. "It really is."
After his "Janis Music" store was broken into several times in a week, Janis got a bill from the city of Manteca for $700 for false alarms.
Only Janis says there were no false alarms. He has a photo he says proves it.
He took a picture of a Manteca police response at his store. It shows officers locating burglar equipment on his roof, including a duffel bag and a rope.
"They got in far enough to set the alarm off," Janis said. "We have alarms placed strategically at those locations so any movement in that area would set off the alarm and that's what happened."
A Manteca police spokesperson told CBS13 the $700 bill would be waived and that the mix up may have been caused by a computer error.
Janis blames city hall for allowing the mix-up into the mail.
"Somebody needs to pay a little more attention to what the city does when it puts bills like this out," Janis said.
Even with the promise of voiding it, Janis says the city has left him lingering on a low note.
"To this date, it hasn't happened," Janis said. "So I still am on the hook for $700."
In his 50 years of operating the store, Janis says he's never had a problem like this before.