By Maya Morales, Kamryn Martell, Michael Picarella
Signal Staff Writers
Eleven local restaurants throughout Saugus, Canyon Country, and Newhall were hit in a spree of smash-and-grabs early Monday morning, no arrests have been made, according to business owners and an official with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.
The restaurants that were burglarized included I Love Sushi, Baskin-Robbins, DiMarco’s Pizza, Chronic Tacos, Pizza Guys, Domino’s Pizza and Twisted Kazuyo Restaurant in Saugus.
The other four were Venice Pizzeria, Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop and Wicked Chicken in Canyon Country and Subway in Newhall.
“I did leave money in the register, I believe it was like $300. That’s the only thing they took, and then the other one [the second register]. It was three of them, they just came in. One jumped over, got the money from the register … two of them went in the back to see if we have anything,” said Estefany Razo, manager at DiMarco’s Pizza.
DiMarco’s Pizza has now suffered three separate break-ins at the Saugus location, according to Razo.
In the same shopping center, I Love Sushi and Baskin-Robbins endured break-ins as well, both with smashed doors.
Baskin-Robbins co-owner Michael Stanford recalled that the three men broke in around 3 a.m. at his location.
“They just broke in, they tried to steal the cash register and then they left. They didn’t damage anything else besides the front door and the cash register. Yeah, it just seemed like they were in and out,” Stanford said. “They didn’t take anything of value, it’s just that we had to replace the front door.”
The owner of I Love Sushi declined to comment on the break-in.
“Last night, they had broken into the door, they broke the glass,” said Maria Santos, owner of Chronic Tacos. “It was three people who came in and there was some black car who had dropped them off. And they broke into the pizza place first, right next to us ... they were unsuccessful in taking anything from our restaurant ... It was less than two minutes.”
Pizza Guys staff could not provide any information due to the owner being in India at the time of the break-in.
One other restaurant was Domino’s Pizza in Saugus, and the staff there declined to provide any information about what happened with the break-in.
Joe Cubangbang, owner of Twisted Kazuyo, said he was frustrated that law enforcement had not done anything.
Cubangbang said it wasn’t the first time he had been a victim of a burglary. He said he worked at a different sushi restaurant in Castaic that had been hit twice, and it was frustrating to go through the process again.
“They stole the register and the register had probably around $300 to $400, not that it is much but still,” said Cubangbang.
He added that they were a new business in the Saugus area off Bouquet Canyon Road and opened on Dec. 1.
Cubangbang said the only way he knew to move was forward and he was thankful none of his staff members were harmed. He said he advises other business owners to take note of the recent spike in burglaries and that it would be a good idea to remove any money from the registers.
In Canyon Country, Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop was hit at approximately 3 a.m., according to the assistant manager Miranda Bernal.
“They stole the safe, which was big and heavy, and they stole it with our cart. They also stole our cash registers with the money inside,” said Bernal.
She added that the estimated amount of money stolen was $1,000. Based off their security camera footage, Bernal said there were three individuals who shattered their window, came into the store and stole the money within two minutes.
Wicked Chicken also reported a break-in and that the cash drawers were stolen from their registers.
Heather Cuñado, senior director of human resources, said when they reviewed their camera footage of the incident they could see what looked like three men and a car out in front of the store.
“They did take our cash drawers, and we had some money in the cash drawers,” said Cuñado. “They damaged our equipment ... they're just yanking our equipment; they threw it out the window. And the guy throws the cash box a couple times to try to break it open.”
Cuñado said on behalf of the company that they felt frustrated and disappointed that the people felt they could just go into a business and take whatever they wanted.
Christopher Ethakpemhi was another local business owner who said he was frustrated with the number of break-ins and hopes the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station can track down the individuals.
Ethakpemhi also said this was the fourth time Venice Pizzeria had been burglarized, and the process usually goes the same. He said law enforcement comes out to take a report and then they usually don’t see consequences for the perpetrators.
Similar to the other businesses that were burglarized, Venice Pizzeria’s windows and door were shattered, and money was stolen.
“There's been so many times and every time this is not cheap. They went for the cash machine, so now I have to call the processing company for the new cash register just to get a new machine now,” said Ethakpemhi. “This cost money, this cost time and it's really annoying and Santa Clarita is supposed be a safe city.”
Pinky Bhamra, manager at Subway off Newhall Avenue, said the individuals were unable to steal cash from the store but they broke the glass cookie container that costs up to $600.
Watch Deputy Nicholas Hoslet, spokesman for the SCV Sheriff’s Station, said that as of Monday afternoon the station could not confirm whether the burglaries were connected to each other and no arrests have been made.
Anyone who has information about the incidents can report it to the SCV Sheriff’s Station at 661-260-4000, or the information can be provided anonymously by calling “Crime Stoppers” at 800-222-TIPS (8477), using a smartphone by downloading the “P3Tips” Mobile APP on Google Play or the Apple App Store or by using the website, lacrimestoppers.org.
