PORT ANGELES — Disaster hit a place made for fun, discovered Dan Kerber, owner of the arcade Gateway Gaming Center, when he walked into his business earlier this week.
He found machines pried open sometime Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning — which caused thousands of dollars of damage — and hundreds of dollars missing.
Kerber has closed shop indefinitely. He will reopen, he said, but when depends on how long it takes for the machines to be repaired, which could take awhile.
“They got away with about $900 bucks in cash, but the biggest problem was that they damaged a bunch of equipment,” he said.
“Just the change machine alone will be about $5,000 to replace.”
He is having the other machines evaluated to find out exactly which ones are damaged and to what extent, so he wasn’t sure Thursday of the total damage assessment for the break-in.
Insurance will cover at least some of the repair costs, he said.
Gateway Gaming Center and Thai Peppers, both located inside the Harbor Towne Mall, 222 N. Lincoln St., were the latest in a spate of 13 Port Angeles burglaries or attempted burglaries in which intruders cut the power to businesses and focused on taking cash.
That number includes the Odyssey Bookshop at 114 W. Front St., which burglars tried and failed to enter that same evening.
At Harbor Towne Mall, there was no outward sign of a break-in, said Kerber and Becky Beck, an employee at Thai Peppers.
Both believe the burglars were hiding inside the building when it was locked at about 10:30 p.m., they said Thursday.
Port Angeles Police Sgt. Barb McFall said that was possible but that it also could be true the building was broken into but the damage wasn’t immediately obvious.
As in previous burglaries, electrical power meters were destroyed to cut the power to the building.
At Harbor Towne, phones also were disrupted.
Beck said that when she arrived at Thai Peppers on Wednesday morning, everything was removed from below the counter, but nothing was missing except for cash.
Money is deposited in a bank nightly, but about $120 had been left in the drawer for change the next day, Beck said.
The burglars took all of the cash and quarters but left the nickels, dimes and pennies.
“It was weird. All of the alcohol was there, but everything was pulled out from under the counter,” Beck said.
“I guess they were looking for a safe.
“But we take it out every night, and now we aren’t even leaving change here.”
At Odyssey, April Bellerud credits her luck with a metal back door and a long lock.
“I got an extra-long lock on the advice of a locksmith on Eighth Street when I very first was thinking about buying the store,” she said of the deal she struck in 2009.
“I love that locksmith now.”
Her electrical power meter was smashed, and something was used to attempt to pry open the shop’s door, she said.
Her motion-sensor light was broken. Bellerud said it had been repaired.
She also has extra protection by way of a metal protector bar screwed onto her door.
“My husband Fort-Knoxed it up,” she said.
“He really likes metal.”
The business hadn’t left much cash overnight and now will have none at the end of the business day, Bellerud said.
The first burglary of a business in which the power was cut was reported March 29.
McFall said that since the burglaries began, Port Angeles police have stepped up patrols, especially in areas they think burglars might hit next.
“They seem to be focusing on smaller businesses,” McFall said.
“Business owners need to know that they should not leave any cash in their business overnight.”
The burglars have been taking cash from the businesses they have been successful in breaking into.
The Port Angeles Police Department does not disclose the amount of cash stolen from businesses because investigations are still open, Deputy Chief Brian Smith has said.
Nine previous burglaries reported by March 29 occurred roughly between the 300 and 900 blocks of East Eighth Street. Although not all of the names of the businesses that were broken into could be released, the police were able to release the names of Shaltry Orthodontics, 611 E. Eighth St.; Blackbird Coffee Shop, 336 E. Eighth St.; Olympic Day Spa, 332 E. Eighth St.; Corinne’s Clipper & Style, 337 E. Eighth St.; and Viva Salon, 335 E. Eighth St.
The following Thursday night or Friday morning, a business on the 200 block of North Francis Street was burglarized after its power was interrupted.
Business owners who suspect that their power was turned off should phone the Port Angeles Police Department, Smith said.
Anyone with knowledge about the crimes is asked to call the Port Angeles Police Department at 360-452-4545 or North Olympic Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.
North Olympic Crime Stoppers pays up to $1,000 cash reward for information leading to an arrest and filing of felony charges. Tips can be left anonymously.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
