Four eateries owned by the same business owner were all broken into within four days of each other, the latest being in Glendale Monday morning.
Arthur Arushanyan says he received one call after another about his businesses being burglarized: on Friday, a PokiTomik location in Simi Valley; on Saturday, right next door, his ice cream shop Whats Rollin; hours later, another PokiTomik in North Hollywood; and Monday at 5 a.m., the PokiTomik location in Glendale.
“It’s tough because money comes and goes but emotionally, me and my wife have been on it because every morning now we are getting a call from another location broken into,” Arushanyan told KTLA.
Surveillance video shows the thieves breaking into the Simi Valley eatery, breaking a small window and crawling to get to the registers and the safe.
The safe contained not only about a weeks worth of cash but also all of the employees’ tips, Arushanyan says, adding that he’s going to replace the tips out of pocket.
Video from the North Hollywood location shows a man breaking the window and waiting behind a getaway car, a silver Mercedes, as his accomplice breaks in. The accomplice is seen wearing the same outfit as in the previous break-in, but this time, he is captured without a mask.
Arushanyan says he doesn’t know if he’s being targeted, adding that he has spoken to other business owners who have been burglarized recently. He believes the incidents are tied to a much larger scheme involving the same burglars.
After a tough year with the pandemic, the small business owner says the break-ins hurt his bottom line and his employees.
“With the food prices skyrocketing, we’re just barely trying to stay open for the public,” Arushanyan says. “When these things happens, it makes it very hard to operate.”
But he is not letting the break-ins stop his team from serving customers, as he works to repair damages to his stores.
Despite having to clean up after four break-ins in four days, Arushanyan says he is no longer upset with the men who did it.
Instead, “I forgive you. I will pray for you and I hope you find your way out of darkness,” he says to the burglars.