SCRANTON, Pa. — Joseph Macciocco shows us the damage to games of skill machines and a jukebox inside Villa Maria Restaurant in Scranton. Joseph says when he arrived to start his day on Saturday morning, his heart sank when he saw all the damage and realized a thief got away with about $1,000.
"When you come in, and you can't service them the right way when you have to clean up a mess that somebody makes. To start off your day like that, it's not a good day," said Joseph Macciocco, Villa Maria Restaurant owner.
The Maccioccos say the restaurant on Washburn Street was broken into about a year ago. They installed security cameras after that.
After this weekend's burglary, Joseph's daughter, Lola, went back to the surveillance video and immediately posted photos of the crook on Facebook.
"I really wanted to find the guy who did it because my mom and dad are so nice to people, and they would do anything for anybody," said Lola Macciocco.
Lori Macciocco says they had been busy preparing dozens of holiday meals for Christmas Eve pickups. Lori says they're thankful the damage wasn't worse.
"What if they did damage to our stove or just rummage through the coolers and toppled all those food orders we had to go? Then you're leaving 40 to 50 to 60 plus orders we had that they don't have Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve," said Lori Macciocco, Villa Maria Restaurant owner.
The Maccioccos say that there are other businesses in the area that have been hit by thieves, and they believe that they'll find the person who did it soon.
"When you hit the small businesses of the community, small, I mean, we work seven days a week. We're not a corporation. We're not something that this is a little loss, and we'll just sweep it under and go. You're starting to attack the infrastructure of this community," said Lori.
"We have a couple of leads. A couple of people called already. So hopefully, we'll piece it all together when the detectives call us up, and maybe we can get the guy," said Joseph.
If you have information about the Saturday morning break-in at Villa Maria, you are asked to contact Scranton Police.
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