PORT TOWNSEND — Three downtown restaurants in the same vicinity were burglarized, losing tip and till money along with computer equipment.
The restaurants burgled Thursday were Courtyard Cafe, 230 Quincy St.; the Banana Leaf Thai Bistro, 609 Washington St.; and Pippa’s Real Tea, 636 Water St.
All three are located on a block bordered by Water, Quincy, Washington and Madison streets.
Along with cash, a laptop and an iPad were stolen from Pippa’s, according to police.
Detective Luke Bogues with the Port Townsend Police Department said there was no forced entry in any of the three burglaries. In each case, a window or door was unlocked, he said.
Courtyard Cafe co-owner Heidi Drewry said the thief entered through a kitchen window that was unlocked.
Banana Leaf owner Tom Rungcharoen disagreed with Bogues. He said all the restaurant’s doors were locked at closing Thursday night, but one was found open Friday morning.
Pippa’s Real Tea owner Pippa Mills said the thief came through a side window that she locks in the fall and never opens.
The window was found unlocked Friday morning.
Mills said she thinks the thief visited the shop earlier and unlatched the window.
Bogues said police had made no arrests as of Friday but were investigating.
‘Have some idea’
“We have some idea who he is,” he said.
Bogues believed the burglar visited the Port Townsend RadioShack on Friday morning and purchased several items using a quantity of $1 bills.
No video was available from the store, whose employees described the man as about 30 years old and wearing a dark hat, a green jacket and carrying a backpack.
Bogues said area merchants should keep an eye out for anyone paying for purchases with $1 and $5 bills or a lot of change.
“The amount of cash taken was pretty miniscule,” Bogues said.
“He isn’t suddenly rich.”
Rungcharoen said he was robbed of about $130. Mills declined to divulge the amount, and Heidi Drewry said the loss was incalculable because she didn’t know how much money was in the tip jar.
Tom Drewry said the jar was probably more valuable than the money it contained, at least sentimentally.
The jar had been on the front corner for the life of the business, which celebrated its seventh anniversary Friday.
Mills said she didn’t care about the cash but was upset about the loss of a computer, which contained several years’ worth of business records.
The computer was not backed up, she said.
“People ask me if I feel violated and I say, no, I feel stupid,” she said about the loss of the laptop.
Reward for laptop
Mills is offering a $100 reward for the laptop, which she described as “an old black Nobilis with no value to anyone but me.
“People should check their rubbish bins, as it’s likely the robber dumped it.”
Said Bogues: “We hear all the time people saying, ‘I’ve lived here 30 years. Can you believe this happened in Port Townsend?’
“But there is nowhere safe in the world where you can leave your door unlocked.”
Anyone with information about the burglaries is asked to call the Police Department at 360-385-2322.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.