SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The San Diego Police Department is asking for the public's help in identifying a person they believe is involved in a series of restaurant burglaries.
The most recent crimes happened in Tierrasanta early Monday morning.
According to police, it was around 3 a.m. when the man, caught on surveillance cameras, broke into the Round Table Pizza on Tierrasanta Boulevard. The video shows him using a sledgehammer to enter through a front glass window and then attempting to use the tool to break into the business' safe. He was unsuccessful.
After Round Table, police say he went to Tutuli Mexican Eatery in the same strip mall. According to SDPD, the man also broke in through the front glass window, accessing the safe and getting away with thousands of dollars.
ABC 10News spoke with the manager and owners of Round Table and Tutuli.
The manager at Round Table says this is not the first time the business has been targeted, saying there have been five break-ins during the last two years.
"I feel for all the other places that have gotten broken into because it’s not our first rodeo, and it probably won’t be our last," said Angel Isabel, the pizzeria's manager.
The owners of Tutuli's say they just opened their business three weeks ago. Alejandro Ochoa says the burglar took $6,000 that was locked up in the safe.
"At that moment, how am I going to pay these people that are working for me and the rent, you know?" says Ochoa, about what he thought when he realized they had been burglarized.
SDPD says detectives are investigating a series of similar commercial burglaries all over the city.
Just two weeks ago, ABC 10News spoke to the owner of another Tierrasanta business that was targeted; the suspect also used a sledgehammer.
Anyone with information related to the investigation is encouraged to contact Detective Sgt. Brian French with Eastern Division Investigations at bfrench@pd.sandiego.gov or contact the Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at (888) 580-8477.
