Reward increases after $25K stolen from Kearny Mesa gentlemen’s club – NBC 7 San Diego

More than $25,000 was stolen from the safe at Expose Gentlemen’s Club in Kearny Mesa during an early Monday morning burglary. The business is now offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

Police received the burglary report and verified the amount stolen. No suspects have been arrested, and the case has been assigned to a detective.

Club owner Dino Palmiotto said most of the money taken from the safe consisted of one-dollar bills. Security cameras captured the suspect, who was wearing a bandana-style mask and a cap throughout much of the burglary.

Palmiotto said he was relieved no one was inside the business at the time.

“I am just thankful the cleaning crew wasn’t here because that’s normally when they come and someone could have been killed or hurt,” Palmiotto said.

According to Palmiotto, the suspect entered through the side parking lot, went behind the building and climbed a 7-foot, chain-link fence before making his way inside. The owner said the burglar spent about nine minutes inside the club.

Security video showed the suspect pausing on the back patio before crawling toward a door and kicking his way inside.

“In a bizarre way, crawls on the floor, which makes no sense. There are motion sensors on the patio,” Palmiotto said.

Once inside, the suspect went directly to the alarm panel, turned off the alarm, entered the manager’s office by defeating another coded lock and then opened the safe, according to Palmiotto.

Palmiotto said the suspect appeared to know the building’s security system.

“Without a reasonable doubt, this is an inside job,” he said.

Palmiotto said the burglar used the security codes of a manager who was recently fired, but said the man seen on surveillance video is not that former employee.

“This guy knew every single code, every single thing,” he said.

The suspect left through the same route used to enter the building, exiting through the broken door, crossing the patio and climbing back over the fence.

Palmiotto said the suspect also may have left fingerprints on the safe.

“I am a small business owner. A lot of people think we’re not a small business, but we really are and we suffer like everybody else does,” he said.

The club initially offered a $3,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. That reward has since increased to $5,000.

This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication.