“Criminals are not smart,” a Sacramento chef said after a suspect with felony warrants caused thousands in damage but made away with only a hammer.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A chef at Urban Plates is speaking out after the restaurant was among 11 businesses targeted in a string of commercial burglaries across East Sacramento.
Ulises Santana said a suspect broke into the restaurant in late February by throwing a rock through the front of the business and moving quickly through the building.
“This happened around like 4:10 in the morning, he was really quick. He came in, broke in around like 4:10, he was out of here by like 4:17,” Santana said.
Surveillance video shows the suspect moving through the restaurant and into the office.
“We had more valuable things here, but he just decided to take a hammer from us,” Santana said, adding, “Criminals are not smart.”
Santana said the suspect targeted cash registers, which were empty, leaving thousands of dollars in damage behind.
“It cost us about $3,000 just for the door and to replace our cash register,” he said.
Sacramento police said 23-year-old Arthur Jasper was arrested March 14 near 41st and J streets after officers on a directed patrol spotted someone matching the suspect description. Police said he ran but was taken into custody.
Officers said Jasper had burglary tools, gloves, shoes and a backpack matching items used in earlier break-ins. He faces charges related to 11 commercial burglaries and has five outstanding felony burglary warrants, according to police.
The burglaries occurred over a 12-day span across East Sacramento. Police said incidents were reported Feb. 27–28 at Garden at the Line, The Mill, Corti Brothers, Angry Chickz, Urban Plates and Chick N Guys/Fred’s Burgers; March 1 at Wushiland Boba, Onigiri Burgers and Pancake Circus; and March 10 at Jayna Gyro and Temple Coffee.
Sacramento City Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum said the crimes take both a financial and emotional toll on local businesses.
“Anytime you know anyone is vandalized or broken into, there’s the property loss, but then there’s also just a sense of a loss of trust and faith in the community,” he said.
He said the suspect appears to be a repeat offender and that the city will work with prosecutors.
“This one looks like a repeat offender that I think will get some pretty stringent prosecution. We’ll work aggressively with the district attorney Tien Ho’s office to make sure that this doesn’t happen again,” Pluckebaum said.
In a statement, the Sacramento Police Department said:
“The Sacramento Police Department continuously evaluates how resources are allocated, and we encourage members of the business community to report any crimes they experience. This reporting helps to provide a better understanding of where and when crime is occurring, allowing us to direct resources more effectively. We are grateful for the hard work of our officers and investigators in identifying, locating, and arresting Arthur Jasper in connection with 11 recent commercial burglaries and his outstanding burglary warrants. We also continue to actively investigate the other recent burglaries that have occurred.”
Police added the cases are not connected to recent burglaries in Curtis Park or Land Park, though investigators are exploring possible links to cases in Folsom.
Santana said the impact goes beyond the damage.
“If people see that people are breaking in and there’s crime in our area, they don’t want to come into our establishment,” he said, adding, “I would like more funding for our police department.”
He said he kept the rock used to break into the restaurant as a reminder.
“The reason why I kept the rock is because of a memory,” he said. “That rock caused a lot of damage to our establishment.”
He said he still has one question for the person responsible.
“Why’d you do it? Why us?”
WATCH MORE ON ABC10 | ‘I felt violated’: Two Loomis restaurants hit in overnight break-ins, safe stolen from Mr. Pickles
ABC10: Watch, Download, Read