BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Business owners in Downtown Bakersfield are boarding up their shops following a string of break-ins. One of those business owners is Jenica Willis, who owns The Nest & Company on 21st Street, where the door is clearly scratched where someone tried to pry it open with a screwdriver.
That individual ultimately broke a window to access the building. Wills has security footage of the incident.
"Here you can see that the gentleman kind of checks out our front office area, and he actually was here previously," said Willis. She is convinced that the person breaking her window in security footage is the same person who tried to break in twice before.
"The way that he attempted to break in opposite the store side? That we know is the same individual," said Willis.
Willis says it was too dark for her cameras to capture the burglary on video. Looking at the footage, there is only a single frame between 3 strollers being in view, and then only 2 strollers left.
Wills suspects that the burglar was in the store for about 15 minutes. The stroller he stole was worth about $400.
According to Willis, this is common for storefronts in Downtown Bakersfield.
"We're not the only business that has been broken into. I know that there's several other businesses experiencing this, but we still don't have any plans of leaving Downtown Bakersfield despite the issues we've had since we've been here," said Willis.
Cassie Buoni, owner of Primary the Salon, says she's been at her Downtown Bakersfield location for the past 15 years and just recently had her store broken into.
"We have video camera footage of a person who we believe could've been a homeless person - maybe not - running by, threw a rock, and continued running," said Buoni. "They did not enter the building."
Like Willis, Buoni says this isn't her first burglary, and although the person who broke her window didn't take anything, the financial loss still negatively impacts her business. Her last break-in cost her around $1,500.
"Things can be covered by insurance depending on what the premium is, but if it doesn't meet the premium then it just comes out of pocket," said Buoni. "But it's our business. We have to take care of it, so unfortunately, it just comes along with owning a business."
Buoni says she feels confident with the security system she has and doesn't have plans to make any changes.
As for Willis, she says they've been more careful about locking up certain items, and her landlord is currently working on getting a metal fence up around the building to add an extra level of security. She says the plan is to have that fence up within the next month.
Wills also says she has a message to share with the burglar:
"I don't know what kind of circumstances that you're in, and obviously it might not be a good one, and yeah, I hope you needed it more than we did."
