{"id":582314,"date":"2026-04-04T19:28:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T19:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/582314\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T19:28:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T19:28:22","slug":"montreal-restaurants-hit-by-break-ins-owners-face-thousands-in-damages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/582314\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal restaurants hit\u00a0by break-ins, owners face thousands in damages"},"content":{"rendered":"

Montreal business owners are facing thousands in damages after a series of break-ins in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

Scott Usheroff, owner of La Spada, woke up on a morning in late March to a call from his wife saying the restaurant had been broken into and the safe stolen.<\/p>\n

While the safe was empty, La Spada was left with thousands of dollars in damages.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur alarm system was broken, that\u2019s how we found out the hard way. So we had to replace our entire alarm system, we had to replace all the locks, get new keys, medical \u2014 very expensive,\u201d Usheroff said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn his way out, (the robber) knocked over some bottles of wine with the safe from our seller down there,\u201d Usheroff said, adding that he estimated the damages to be $3,000 to $4,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t see the value here,\u201d Usheroff added. \u201cThe only saving grace for me is imagining (the robber) trying to open the safe for a week and then finding that it was empty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Restaurant La Spada on Notre Dame street on April. 2, 2026 (CityNews)<\/p>\n

Since La Spada was broken into, many other businesses across the city have faced a similar fate.<\/p>\n

At Bocadillo Bistro in Little Italy, owner Marco Russo said his restaurant experienced its own break-in at the end of March too.<\/p>\n

Russo says his wife came in one morning only to find the cash register open and everything out of place as well as about $1,200 in bottles stolen from the bar.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very unsettling. It\u2019s weird, like you feel like, you know, invaded. You see like everything was touched and everything was moved and it\u2019s not nice,\u201d Russo said.<\/p>\n

Russo says new equipment to prevent future break-ins will set them back about $4,500.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lock is expensive. Every key is like $40, $50 each. We have to change everything. The door now it says not closing well. So we have to fix that too,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"\"Restaurant Boccadillo Bistro in Little Italy on April. 2, 2026 (CityNews)<\/p>\n

Restaurant Bossa on Wellington Street, also experienced a break-in even though it was properly locked and equipped with a functioning alarm system, says co-owner Daniel Lo Manto.<\/p>\n

Lo Manto explained that the perpetrator destroyed the lock mechanism on the front door, went straight to the cash registers, ripped both units out of the counter, and walked out \u2014 all in under 60 seconds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must replace the door and lock, produce new keys, purchase and install two new cash registers, for a total estimated cost of roughly $3,000,\u201d Lo Manto said, in a statement to CityNews.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our tight-margin industry, this is a substantial and unexpected financial hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Restaurant Bossa on Wellington Street, Verdun on April. 2, 2026 (CityNews)<\/p>\n

La Spada owner Usheroff echoed Lo Manto, saying that targeting cash-strapped restaurants didn\u2019t make much sense.<\/p>\n

\u201cRestaurants don\u2019t frequently have cash on hand. Most people pay with cards. We\u2019re already a low margin business. We\u2019re just trying to make people happy and make a couple bucks here and there,\u201d Usheroff said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we should have some sort of, maybe more frequent or some sort of a local watch system,\u201d Usheroff said. \u201cSome people that monitor areas that are getting hit at prime times.\u201d<\/p>\n

CityNews reached out to the SPVM for comment. They said they could not discuss ongoing investigations, but confirmed that police stations in affected areas reported no recent increase in break-ins.<\/p>\n

SPVM also shared tips to reduce the risk of theft:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Check that all doors and secondary exits are properly locked<\/p>\n

\u2022 Ensure that alarm systems and cameras are functioning correctly<\/p>\n

\u2022 Maintain adequate lighting around access points<\/p>\n

\u2022 Report any suspicious presence or activity to us<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tCCTV footage showing the alleged perpetrator in Bocadillo Bistro on March. 29, 2026 (Courtesy: Bocadillo Bistro) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Montreal business owners are facing thousands in damages after a series of break-ins in recent weeks. Scott Usheroff,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338],"class_list":["post-582314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}