ASHTABULA —
A Main Avenue businessman is seeking tips from the public to help solve a recent burglary.
Darrell Hamilton, co-owner of Broken Dreams Cafe, 4601 Main Ave., is offering a $500 reward for the arrest and conviction of the person, or persons, who broke into his restaurant last week, and the return of his property.
A burglar broke into the restaurant Dec. 10 and stole about $200, plus donations for the Toys for Tots campaign in Ashtabula County. A gun, a camera and a DVD recorder also were missing, Hamilton said.
“I don’t expect to get the money back,” Hamilton said. “But you can’t buy that kind of recorder around here. I had to go to Erie to buy it.”
Hamilton said it appeared the perpetrator cut a hole in the front door and then reached in and unlocked the door.
“I’m sick of this,” Hamilton said. “I never had anything stolen from me until I moved to Ashtabula.”
Hamilton isn’t the only recent victim of crime.
A car repair shop — Roy and Ray’s, 5779 Main Ave. — was burglarized Tuesday, according to police reports.
Owner Roy Caudill discovered his business had been burglarized when he opened the shop at about 7:20 a.m., to find a broken window and that an undisclosed amount of cash was missing, he said.
“They first tried the front door and then the back door. They beat on it,” he said. “When they couldn’t get in, they went to the north side of the building and broke a window.”
Caudill was devastated, having been in business in Ashtabula for 40 years.
The week before, Ultimate Appearance, 4702 Main Ave.; the Berean Seventh Day Adventist Church, 874 Center St.; and First Baptist Church, 4353 Park Ave., were burglarized, and undisclosed amounts of cash were stolen, according to police reports.
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’Bula business owner offering reward for arrest, conviction of burglar
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