Chefs at a Cherry Creek restaurant found a shattered front door when they showed up to work -- the third location hit in recent days where thieves smashed windows and stole cash from the registers.
Police believe the thieves hit two others restaurants located right next door to each other. Managers confirmed the thieves stole money from the register at Sweet Ginger and La Merise, located in the area of Clayton and E. 3rd Avenue.
“We’re all working for the holidays and it’s hard to see [this taking place]. I know people are desperate out there but we’re all working for it too, so it hurts [with] every business that gets hit,” said Victoria Huber, the manager at La Merise.
She said surveillance video shows the suspect throwing a rock through the front door window and climbing through the hole. She describes how the video shows another person in the doorway, serving as a lookout.
Denver7 has reported on at least five other smash and grab incidents since the beginning of December. Last week, Angelo’s CDs and More was hit in a very similar way. The suspects threw a rock through the window of the record store. Surveillance video shows one man searching the register for cash but the manager said he was not able to find the money. That same video also shows another man outside who appears to be a lookout.
Police are still working to determine if any of these crimes could be connected.
“Hearing it almost every week now of somebody else being hit, yeah, it’s discouraging,” said Sean Batz, the manager at Angelo’s CDs and More.
Police are encouraging business owners not to keep any cash in their register drawers overnight.
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