3 West Town restaurants burglarized minutes apart, police say: VIDEO
Tuesday morning marked the third time Fry the Coop's West Town location has been broken into, the owner said.
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Three restaurants in the West Town neighborhood were burglarized Tuesday morning, Chicago police said.
The burglaries took place around 3:06 a.m. at Paula and Monica's Pizzeria and Fry the Coop in the 1500-block of West Chicago Avenue and at another restaurant in the 600-block of North Ashland Avenue.
ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch
In each of the burglaries, police said the front glass doors of the restaurant were broken. And in two of the restaurants, police said money was taken from the cash registers.
Joe Fontana, the owner of the Fry the Coop's West Town location, shared surveillance video of the burglary. It took the suspects mere minutes to inflict thousands of dollars worth of damage.
The footage shows the moment the suspects smash through a second glass door to get into the restaurant. Fontana said the criminals used a brick to break in and that it took them only two minutes to get in and out.
"I think its so unfortunate that crime is just so rampant in the city right now, and I feel like these criminals have no fear of being caught or that anything bad is going to happen to them," Fontana said.
Fontana's two city locations have been broken into multiple times. He says this West Town location has been targeted three times now.
He is getting ready to open up a new locations, he says, but in the suburbs.
"We're kind of avoiding the city right now, opening up new store, because of the crime that's happening," Fontana said.
And he is not the only one. The Illinois Restaurant Association says crime has become a major factor in restaurant openings in the city.
"Crime and public safety are top concerns for restaurant owners/operators," said Sam Toia with the Illinois Restaurant Association. "If they don't get this crime situation under control, that is going to drive restaurant owners/operators to look into suburbs or look into Joliet, Naperville, to open their next restaurants."
Fontana said after causing all that damage, the suspects only got away with about $9.30 on Tuesday morning.
"There's only $9 and change in there, so they caused about $3,000 worth of damage in two minutes only to get some pocket change," Fontana said.
No one is in custody, and Area Three detectives are investigating.
INTERACTIVE SAFETY TRACKER Track crime and safety in your neighborhood
