Police searching for group of burglary suspects who vandalized businesses in Santa Monica
Police are investigating a series of incidents that occurred in Santa Monica early Monday morning, when a group of suspects vandalized and burglarized several businesses.
Not only did the suspects cause thousands of dollars worth of damage at the three businesses along Montana Avenue, Margot's Pizza Kitchen and Bar, Bardonna coffee shop and Pinkberry Frozen Yogurt, but they even took off with thousands of dollars from one of the locations.
Surveillance footage from inside Margot's Pizza Kitchen shows three suspects entering the restaurant after shattering one of the store's windows at around 2:30 a.m. Monday morning.
In just under five minutes, the suspects can be seen rifling through cash drawers and using power tools to cut open the business' safe.
"They've done the math. They know how long it takes to get it, how long it takes to get out," said Matt Spiersch, the Director of Operations at Margot's, who also noted that this isn't the first time they've been hit, but it might be the last. "He's held on for a long time. Longer than he wanted to for this particular restaurant. This might be the tipping point for him. ... We don't want to have to keep doing this."
He said that on top of the nearly $3,000 stolen from them, the suspects did approximately $7,000 worth of damage to the safe and front window.
Related: L.A. organized retail thefts: Law enforcement leaders point to county's zero-bail policy
Investigators suspect that due to the proximity of the crimes, the suspects are likely the same trio that hit Bardonna and Pinkberry, all located on the same block.
Though they didn't take anything from either of the other locations, they were vandalized in similar fashion.
Santa Monica City Councilman Phil Brock spoke with managers from all three locations, and says that on top of feeling frustrated, they're also feeling resigned, as businesses all over Southern California struggle to deal with a rash of theft and destruction hitting the area.
"I think more resigned. Resigned that this is happening, there's nothing they can do. They seem like, 'Well, that's the cost of doing business,'" Brock said. "I personally don't accept that."
He's among the many Southland residents that blame Los Angeles County's decriminalization of low-level offenses and the zero-bail policy for non-violent crimes.
Investigators don't have much of a description for the suspects yet, other than that they were all seen wearing masks and hooded sweatshirts and fled from the area in a dark-colored sedan.
