LA MESA, Calif. (KGTV) – It’s a wake-up call that bolted Dean Velasco and his wife out of bed last Saturday night. The owner of Deano’s Pub in La Mesa said they got a call about their alarm going off.
“When my wife opened the camera app and saw somebody in there, it made the hair on our arms go up,” Velasco said.
Security cameras captured that chilling moment of someone breaking into their bar.
“The suspect walked; broke in through the front door, went around to the, um, cash register,” Velasco said. “He was in here for almost 2 minutes the first time, he shook the registers, opened them up, and he came over to the ATM, shook the ATM, and then he left.”
But this wasn’t the first and only time this would happen.
Velasco told ABC 10News that just five days later, after putting an anti-pry plate on the front door of the bar, his cameras caught two more people breaking into his bar again on early Thursday morning.
“At 3:01 a.m. I got the exact same call that I got on Saturday. And we opened up the cameras to see the exact same guy with a buddy inside actively trying to drill open the ATM,” Velasco.
Again, nothing was taken, but being hit twice does come at a cost.
“Now I have to replace the door with a $2500 door,” Velasco said.
Velasco told ABC 10News that getting a new used atm costs around $3,000.
“We're at least $5000, $6000 in the hole, and we just want to feel safe,” Velasco said.
The La Mesa Police Department told ABC 10news it’s investigating the burglaries at Deano’s, and it appears to be the same suspect in both incidents.
We also asked if they are tied to other recent burglaries in the San Diego area.
The Department tells us it believes these series are connected.
Dean praises the La Mesa Police for their quick response, as they are asking the public to come forward if they know anything.
“We put a lot of heart and soul into this place, and we put a lot of effort and for somebody to come in and just want to take stuff that that's not theirs, it just feels violation. It feels like you're violated,” Velasco said.
