GREENE TOWNSHIP – A business owner in Pike County is offering a $2,000 reward to help catch the thieves who ripped off his restaurant.
You can see the security cameras outside of Nicky's Italian Cafe and Smokehouse in Pike County, but inside the recording device is gone. Troopers believe a burglar took the recording device along with tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment and electronics.
"I couldn’t believe it was done. So many people come in and out, it’s just not a place you would think would be robbed," said Caretaker Patrick Porter.
Porter takes care of the restaurant near Newfoundland while it's closed for the winter, and noticed the burglary last month after returning from a long weekend away. The burglar took three flat-screen TVs, computers, fax machines, deep fryers and sorted through utensils, taking only the valuable ones.
The spree continued in the apartments next door, with the burglar taking more catering equipment and then about $20,000 worth of Porter's tools.
"It’s personal and it’s devastating," said Porter.
State police said burglaries like this aren't on the rise, but troopers are looking into the matter closely.
Just up the road at John’s Italian Restaurant they also have security systems and alarms, but it hasn’t been enough to keep burglars away here either.
"It’s very frustrating, and it’s amazing that a lot of these kids around here they get away with this stuff. They get away with a lot of this stuff. I’m not too happy about this," said John's Italian Restaurant owner Nick Allegretta.
Allegretta had burglar's break through windows twice in the past year, taking only cash, but he says he doesn't know how to keep these burglars away.
"There’s really nothing else I can do. My whole front is glass, so what am I going to do, put barbed wires around it and metals, I can’t do all that," said Allegretta.
As for the owners at Nicky's Italian Café, they're offering a $2,000 reward to help catch who's responsible for the break in there.