San Jose

San Jose restaurant burglarized for a 6th time in less than 3 years

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A San Jose restaurant has been burglarized six times in the last two and a half years, the owners said this week.

The most recent break-in at Funny Farm Restaurant on San Felipe Road happened Monday night. It resulted in thousands of dollars worth of damage.

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Surveillance video captured someone with a hooded sweatshirt and their face covered looking through the restaurant's glass doors. Owners Monica and Ron Levi said the person then broke one of the windows and climbed inside. The thief then went into the office and stole iPads.

The restaurant has to replace a window along with a door that was busted during another burglary attempt last week.

In all, it will cost them at least $15,000 to fix.

The Levis said they stay open for the customers, but that might not be enough anymore.

"They put money in the jar to help us buy a new door and the heartbreaking thing is not knowing if it's enough and really trying to figure out how we’re going to come up with the money to stay open," Monica said. "That’s the heartbreaking thing, feeling like we let them down."

Monica said police reports have been filed and officers came by on Tuesday to talk with them.

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“This is literally our life," Monica said. "We put everything into it so the frustration comes with not being protected, not feeling safe, not being able to just go about our daily business and serve the community how we want."

A café in the same complex was also broken into four times in four months.

The Levis said they now want security guards from the landlord, more patrols from police, and want the criminals caught and punished.

“Penalties for the people who are perpetrating this kind of crime," Ron said. "It’s an assault on us personally as well, besides the fact that there’s losses and you feel violated."

The Levis are also looking into San Jose’s Capture Crime program that equips local businesses with free security cameras.

“The city officials need to get involved," Monica said. "We need to be able to feel safe. Putting small businesses out of business, that’s what’s going to happen. It’s happening already."

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