COLLEGE PARK, Fla. – Restaurant owner Joey Eckenfels said a suspect used a brick or rock to smash the front windows of his diner on Edgewater Drive on Feb. 13.
Eckenfels showed News 6 surveillance video of the break-in at the College Park Café, which he said only took less than a minute.
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“We don’t keep any money in the register in the building ever. Then they got back in the car and left,” Eckenfels said.
He said the whole thing caused staff to close the restaurant for the day. They also had to pay $1,700 to replace the glass.
“We spent the day cleaning up. Closing on a Sunday, it’s our busiest day of the week and it really hurt us, so it was like stealing money from our register,” he explained.
The Elevation Smoke Shop, also on Edgewater Drive, was broken into on Feb. 22.
The owner, Jodi Blaine, said security cameras caught three people in the act.
“They apparently did a lot of drive-by, (with what) looked like a wrought iron and just tapped my door and walked in,” Blaine said.
Blaine said one of the suspects went to the back of her shop and took about $500 worth of items.
She explained the recent break-ins are unusual in College Park.
“We do look out for each other, all the stores around me have given me their camera footage and they are helping me,” she said.
Orlando police said it’s not believed that the two cases are connected.
Anyone with information about the break-ins can call Crimeline at 800-423-TIPS.