Police issued a community alert after a series of burglaries. Sansern Nitithanyaratana is the owner of Shiso. He said in the last five years there's never been a problem at his sushi restaurant, but one morning he found the cash register had been moved.
"The door was open and the lock was broken and in front of the door, there was the broken cash drawer, lots of coins on floor," Nitithanyaratana said.
Nitithanyaratana said about $800 in cash and rolls of coins were taken. "Fortunately, we had an alarm system here, so I think it scared away so he didn't have much time to look around and take more than that, Nitithanyaratana said.
While the alarm worked, Shiso's 5-year-old surveillance cameras did not. The same thing happened at Deluxe Cleaners in Old Town when it was recently burglarized during closed hours. There, the thief also pried open the lock and grabbed cash out of the register and rolls of coins. The owner says about $200 was taken. Police say another business was hit the same way near the busy shopping corridor at North Avenue and Sheffield.
"It's exactly the same pattern," Sgt. Edward Woodnicki, Chicago Police Department, said.
"It's a good neighborhood up until now. So I have to be careful from now on. Anything can happen," Nitithanyaratana said.
Police suggest businesses leave a light on overnight, make sure cameras are working, and don't leave any cash in the register.
