Several small Bellflower businesses have been robbed and some owners believe they are all related.
The owner of one such business expressed concern as he had a particularly difficult month.
A restaurant owner says he had his grand opening on St. Patrick’s Day, hoping it would bring good luck to his business, but since opening last month his restaurant has been robbed twice.
At 5 a.m., a masked man with a hammer entered Tacos la Rueda in Bellflower and surveillance video showed an accomplice in an SUV parked outside.
“They take the knocker, they break down the door, they come in and they go straight to the safe,” said Alan Cjudo, owner of Tacos la Rueda.
The owner thinks the thief knew where he was going, as he may have done it before.
On March 27, the restaurant was robbed, but in this case the robbers left empty-handed.
A woman says she will close her beauty salons after a wave of thefts hit her business.
This last time, the criminals stole the safe, along with a jar of tips from the clerk, a loss of thousands of dollars for Alan Cjudo.
“We are working very hard to achieve our goals and support our families and the families that we also support as workers,” Cjudo said.
Alan said the two robberies at his new restaurant were painful.
“It’s a lot of hard work, dedication, it’s a dream for us to open a business, it’s tough,” he said.
But Cjudo said he wasn’t giving up, or he was giving up. He hopes detectives will find the suspects, whose license plate numbers have thankfully been captured on surveillance video.
“We made a police report and I hope they can help us with something because it can’t happen,” Cjudo said.
Other businesses in the mall have also been raided in recent months, and many owners here believe the raids may be related.