Tuesday morning around 4 a.m. several businesses were involved in smash and grab burglary and police are still looking for the person responsible.
Blue Oak Coffee co-owner Cynthia Price said her company broke ground just three months ago and Tuesday marked a disappointing start to the business, “We found our door shattered and our cash register was stolen.”
The person responsible for smashing through her front door walked away with only a couple hundred dollars in cash but left behind thousands of dollars in damages.
“It’s hard because you fight every month to make it and it just makes it that much harder,” Price said.
Price wasn’t the only store owner cleaning up this morning either, “They said there were four more during the course of the night so Bonnie’s was broken into around the corner.” Bakersfield Police Department (BPD) was unable to confirm if other businesses were hit.
However, employees at Bonnie’s Best Café on 21st and F Street told 23abc the loss wasn’t as significant, “There were only coins in the drawer, the drawer was open it's pretty clear that there was no real money in there but the cost of the door," Store Owner of Bonnie’s Best Cafe Laurie Watson said.
City officials said they have spent almost the last year working with the federal government to improve the safety and security in the downtown area,"It's a very slow process when you’re working with the federal government but I'm convinced we will be able to deploy these three additional police officers any day now," city council member Andrae Gonzales said.
Price said she thought there was already proper security in place because they have a security guard that stays outside all night.
She also said she won’t let the burglary run her business out of town,"We have gotten a lot of support from the community and they've been very wonderful to us," Price concluded.
We contacted the Trans West Security company in charge of monitoring the Blue Oak Coffee building and haven't heard back. Price is also still working with her insurance company to determine her out of pocket cost in damages.
