(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1”; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1”; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));
———————
PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles restaurant and at least one other business were burglarized over the weekend, and police believe the same perpetrator is responsible for both break-ins.
Security cameras at Sabai Thai at 903 W. Eighth St. caught footage of a stocky man rifling through the cash register and searching behind the counters for other items at about 3:30 a.m. Saturday.
The break-in marked the second time in nine days the eatery had been burglarized.
In the video, the man is wearing a vest, a light-colored short-sleeve shirt and an RVCA clothing brand baseball cap with the brand’s logo — which resembles a “V” and “A” — embroidered on the front.
He keeps his head down and shields his face with the brim of his baseball cap or covers his lower face with the collar of his vest whenever he faces a camera.
“He seemed to know where the cameras were,” said Renu “Ann” Chaummalung, co-owner of Sabai Thai.
The burglar got away with six to eight bottles of wine worth about $400 and several pieces of unique jewelry from Thailand worth a few hundred dollars from the employee locker room, Chaummalung said.
Sabai Thai’s security footage, which showed the burglar to be present in the store at 3:30 a.m. Saturday after gaining entry through the front doors, was posted to Facebook on Saturday afternoon.
By Sunday afternoon, the video had been viewed more than 5,700 times.
Cameras at Spotlight Tanning and Apparel captured images of a similar figure in a winter jacket, packing away about $4,000 in store inventory at about 5 a.m. Sunday, said Mandy Gallacci, owner of Spotlight.
“I am so frustrated,” Galacci said Sunday afternoon.
The burglar entered by breaking a window in the front door.
The majority of the items stolen were high-end denim jeans valued at $154 per pair, and the cash register with $450 was also taken, she said.
Galacci said her store was not insured for the losses.
She said police investigating the theft told her the store’s security she installed was among the better ones in the area, though it did not include an alarm system.
Like the Sabai Thai footage, Gallacci posted the video to the Internet on Sunday to seek help from area residents to identify and catch the burglar.
On Saturday afternoon, it had been viewed more than 2,300 times.
Port Angeles Police Cpl. David Dombrowski said there is an ongoing investigation into the burglaries, and other burglaries in the city are being examined to see if they may have been committed by the same person.
“We believe we know who this individual is,” Dombrowski said.
However, officers need to collect more evidence before they can name a suspect or arrest him for investigation of burglary, he said.
Dombrowski said that Sunday afternoon officers were collecting evidence, including reviewing security footage from other Port Angeles businesses in hopes of getting another look at the burglar.
Anyone who recognizes the burglar in the video, knows his whereabouts or has information about the burglary, should phone the Port Angeles Police Department at 360-452-4545.
It was the third time Sabai Thai was the site of either a burglary or an attempted break-in since Jan. 23, Chaummalung said.
A burglar, who she said got in Jan. 23 through the front door and left the doors open when he left, got away with Sabai Thai’s $350 cash register containing about $1,000 in cash and an ornate Thai copper necklace.
Chaummalung said the restaurant is insured, but she was not certain Sunday what will be covered.
The burglar seemed to know what he was doing with the locks, she said, adding that the doors were not damaged in this weekend’s burglary.
She said the burglar was also seen on security tapes in the first burglary, but the lights were too dim to bring out the details seen in Saturday’s video.
“It looks like the same person,” Chaummalung said.
New locks were installed, and a second attempt — this one unsuccessful — was made to get in through the back door Jan. 27, she said.
Chaummalung said that Saturday the burglar got through the front doors again despite the new locks.
Later on Saturday, the locks were changed again, she said, and six new security cameras and an alarm system were installed.
Related videos to the Spotlight break-in are posted at two Facebook sites: https://www.facebook.com/mandy.scottgallacci?fref=ts and https://www.facebook.com/olivia.pluard?pnref=story .
Other videos are at the Sabai Facebook page; click on: https://www.facebook.com/sabai.thai.7?fref=ts .
(You need to be a member of Facebook to see both sets of videos.)
_______
Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
