SAN ANTONIO – New surveillance pictures show big similarities in two Southtown restaurant break-ins. Crime Stoppers is asking for the public's help to find the man believed to have committed both crimes.
The first break-in happened at 1:30 a.m. on April 4 at an empty Rosarios on South Alamo.
"This is our service entrance here and these are the doors. He smashed the entire door," manager Edward Pichardo said, showing the multiple cameras that caught the man in action.
The intruder was seen wearing a white cloth over his head and face, a white T-shirt and cargo pants.
"We have video in our front door, exit doors. We have the alarm system for motion detecting," Pichardo said.
Pichardo believes the alarm system spooked the intruder, who didn't steal anything. The man ran over to a side window, picked up a chair and tried to break through the exit but that time, it didn't work. Surveillance footage showed him taking the chair and trying to break through another exit unsuccessfully.
"He came to the front and smashed (a) window, and it did give, so he exited through the front door," Pichardo said.
The restaurant was left with a total of about $3,000 worth of damage.
The front door is also how someone got into Alamo Street Eat Bar, which is right down the road, hours later. San Antonio police believe it was the same person.
"He came down here and he started trying to pry this part of the door open, which we now have reinforced. So he snuck in. He ripped his shirt and whatever he was using. His face was exposed," said manager Justin Gamboa, who talked about the crystal clear surveillance pictures they have of the criminal's face.
Gamboa said the cameras showed the man hanging around the business before it closed, then hiding and waiting for staff to leave. However, once he got inside, he couldn't get into the safe, so he took what was available.
"(He) got into our cooler and took sodas. There was nothing else for him to really take," Gamboa said with a chuckle. "He was on foot, so he's not going to take a keg down the street."
Another manager at Alamo Street Eat Bar, Eric Montoya, said strings of burglaries like this are becoming common along South Alamo Street and in the Southtown area in general. In September, there was another rash of burglaries, hitting businesses such as Bar America.
"It happens sometimes in waves. We'll get a week or two of people hitting the neighborhood really hard, and some people get it worse than others. We consider ourselves pretty lucky," Montoya said.
The day after the break-in Alamo Street Eat Bar installed an alarm system that is connected to managers' phones and the emergency system.
Pichardo has a message for the intruder: "Not only are you hurting yourself, but you're hurting your family. You don't want to go to jail or prison."
Managers at both restaurants hope anyone who recognizes the man will call Crime Stoppers, which is offering up to $5,000 for anonymous tips that leads to an arrest in the case. The number to call is 210-224-7867.
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