Restaurant is second to be burglarized recently on same strip on Chicago's Northwest Side
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Northwest Side restaurant was raided by burglars in the middle of the night in a crime caught on camera – and business owners said such crimes are out of control.
The most recent target, Mima's Taste of Cuba, was one of two restaurants located just blocks away from each other that were each burglarized in a similar fashion – just weeks apart.
Mima's Taste of Cuba is located at 2925 W. Irving Park Rd. in the Irving Park neighborhood, and is owned by Billy Alvarez. The first thing Alvarez does when he wakes up is check the surveillance cameras.
"This morning, I noticed my framing on the door was in in my visual of my camera, and that never happens," Alvarez said, "so I was like oh, somebody broke in."
Further surveillance video confirmed that was exactly what happened. The burglars struck just before 1:30 a.m. Thursday.
"One guy knocks in my door, then all three of them run, and they jump the counter. They go to the register, took some money, took my iPads, computer, and that was it - and then back in their car, made a left, and they were gone," Alvarez said. "It just happened so quick."
The burglary only took minutes. But the effects on the small business owner are lasting ones.
"It becomes defeating, you know?" Alvarez said. "They just robbed my buddy's restaurant, like a month ago."
Big League Burgers, only about a mile to the west at 3734 W. Irving Park Rd.,was the victim of a very similar overnight burglary on Sunday, April 14.
CBS 2 sat down with Big League Burgers owner Peter Mihopoulos after the burglary happened to him.
"That day it happened to him, he called us," Alvarez said. "So today, when it happened to me, I called him. I'm like, 'Yep, I guess I was next.'"
It was unclear late Friday if the two burglaries are related. But Alvarez said there have been one too many.
"We feel like nobody cares, or nobody's doing anything about it. There's really no repercussions for, you know, doing bad things," Alvarez said.
"My message to just them would be, it's like, this isn't the way. You know, you're robbing, honest, hardworking people - and at the end of the day, you're really not getting that much out of it."
Alvarez, like Mihopoulos, said he wants more accountability for the thieves committing the crimes.
Chicago Police said late Friday that there had been no arrests in either of the burglaries.
