VIDEO: Family Of Thieves Hit SF Yogurt Shop Twice In One Week
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) -- A brazen family of thieves hit a yogurt shop in San Francisco twice in less than a week, according to the owner.
Surveillance video shows a group of people, believed to be a family of eight, walking into Easy Breezy in West Portal on Tuesday January 25, just before closing.
"Grabbed our largest cups and just started filling them up with yogurts and toppings and just waltzed right out, were laughing about it, grabbing spoons and napkins on the way out," said owner Ariel Ford.
Ford said the smallest child wearing red grabbed the tip jar before leaving.
"This is what they're learning is good behavior. I mean the youngest, the one that stole the tip jar, probably 7 or 8 years old," she added.
Ford said what's worse is the family returned a few days later with an even larger group of 13 and pulled the same stunt. One thief even stopped to grab a napkin before casually walking out of the shop.
"They just swarmed the store. Customers could just sense that something was wrong, and they just grabbed their kids and leave, and same thing - bunch of yogurt, bunch of toppings, they ended up trashing the store and just walked right out again laughing about it," said Ford.
Ford posted signs along with surveillance photos outside her West Portal Avenue store in hopes that someone may recognize the thieves. She's been hit in similar fashion about six times in the last six months. She said the thieves are usually teenagers. She's since tied a cable to the tip jar and filed a police report.
"Misdemeanors under $950 nothing can happen, so the only way we can get any action is to put a restraining order out against people. You need a name for that," she said.
In the meantime, Ford says her employees, who are mostly high school and college students, are worried for their safety.
"I've shown these pictures to all the local merchants as well, because if they're stealing from me, they're stealing from other people," she said.