Long Beach small business owners hoping for answers in recent string of burglaries
Long Beach business owners are desperately hoping to put an end to a string of burglaries that have occurred at their small businesses in just the last week.
The latest incident occurred at Roxanne's, a restaurant and bar known for distilling their own "Jack Rabbit" whiskey. The eatery, located in the 90000 block of E. Wardlow Road, even has a secret speakeasy attached that is only accessible via password.
But on Thursday, one man entered the entire building without giving the password, instead forcing entry with a crowbar.
Jim Torres, the communications director at Roxanne's, said that the double doors broke open after the suspect jimmied the crowbar in between.
Surveillance footage from inside the bar shows the burglar jumping onto the four-foot tall bar countertop with ease as he began to search behind the bar.
Residents and other small business owners have noticed some similarities between this suspect and the one who hit three different restaurants days earlier, making off with thousands of dollars after burglarizing The Breakfast Bar, Speak Cheezy, and Baja Sonora Mexican Restaurant.
The one difference, is that the suspect inside of Roxanne's Thursday evening ran off without stealing any money after the alarm went off while they were inside.
"The only thing we found missing was two bottles of our Jack Rabbit whiskey," Torres said. "Which, we gotta say, at least the burglar has good taste."
Torres and other employees are curious if the suspect has visited them in person before, especially since they're quite a bit further from the other locations that were hit over the weekend — located about five miles from the general area where the first three burglaries occurred.
Regardless of location, Torres said that the rash of burglaries definitely isn't centralized in Long Beach, alluding to the more relaxed response that the state of California takes on crime.
"People see that there's an opportunity for crime to be committed without repercussions and people are having a field day with that until somebody comes in and makes the decision to put a stop to it," he said. 'But, as of right now, it's open season."
As authorities continue investigating the string of incidents, Torres had one last message to relay to the suspect and the community of Long Beach:
"If anybody knows that guy, just let him know that he sucks and he's ruining people's lives."
