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East Austin business break ins
Business owners in East Austin are recovering after a man broke into their buildings.
AUSTIN, Texas - ***EDITOR'S NOTE: The suspect was arrested after this story was posted***
Business owners in East Austin are recovering after a man broke into their buildings.
They said after talking with each other, they think it is the same person.
East Austin business break-ins
Local perspective:
Shattered glass is apparently a common thing business owners in East Austin have been having to deal with lately. Windows and doors are now boarded up.
"Petty crimes like this have to stop," La Plancha Owner and Chef Maria Richmond said.
A man was seen on surveillance footage rummaging through The Plant Society in the middle of the night.
"He took my iPad and my card reader, that was it," The Plant Society Owner Casey Buckingham said.
He is also seen inside the La Plancha restaurant.
"He took two beverages, two beers out of our cooler, an Apple Watch charger and my business cards," Richmond said.
He didn’t leave with much, but he left behind a lot of damage.
"It's very defeating to see that what the person was after was nothing really. It’s going into a business because they feel like they can or whatever it is and just caused so much damage, so much money for nothing really, maybe less than $50 worth of stuff that he stole," Richmond said.
"It just felt violating, you know, I put so much work into this little business and I never thought a plant store would get robbed," Buckingham said.
The owners said they started talking about what happened on social media and quickly realized they weren’t the only ones hit by this burglar.
"More and more people are saying like, hey, this happened to me last week or this happened a couple of days ago, like we also got broken into, so it's just really sad," Richmond said.
They said they have put the pieces together and are hoping the Austin Police Department does so soon.
"The process has been a little bit frustrating and disconnected because it's all kind of digital. You just upload your evidence and just kind of wait," Buckingham said. "I just really just want to talk to someone and tell them that there's a commonality between all of this and this person can be caught, because it's just going to keep happening to these small businesses and these kinds of damages really affect people like us that put all of our money into starting a small business."
"We're just really, just trying to be a part of the community and stay afloat and feed our families and our employees. We're just trying to make a living, that's all we're trying to do," Richmond said.
Austin police responds
The Austin Police Department sent a statement:
"We can confirm that the case numbers provided correspond to a burglary of a non-residence cases. These remain open and active investigations. At this time, we are continuing to gather information regarding the subject’s potential involvement in any additional incidents."
APD said they are not able to confirm suspects or persons of interest at this time.
The Source: Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin's Meredith Aldis