Two Fallbrook businesses hit by burglars

Two Fallbrook businesses were broken into and burglarized in the early morning hours of Tuesday, July 17, according to owners and representatives of the businesses.

According to reports, Fallbrook Coffee Company and Brooktown Kitchen and Coffee confirmed they had been burglarized. San Diego County Sheriff's department officers were unavailable for comment by late Tuesday.

News spread quickly through town as someone representing Fallbrook Coffee Company posted on its Facebook page, "As you may have heard by now, we were broken into last night....We hope this will be quickly resolved and give our best to Brooktown Coffee as well."

Seana Martin, owner of Brooktown Kitchen and Coffee, said Tuesday that she received a call from a Sheriff's deputy who said someone had broken into her store, located on 139 S. Main Ave.

"The front door, a glass door, was completely smashed in by someone either kicking it or throwing something through it," Martin said. "There was glass all the way across the restaurant."

Martin said both of her POS (point of sale) systems, cash drawers and iPads used to process transactions were gone when she arrived to the business.

"They kicked in an office door, because the door jam was splintered and ransacked the entire place," she said. "No drawer or cabinet was left untouched."

In all, Martin said she suspects the alleged burglars went through her restaurant in about five minutes, based on the security camera footage she looked at when she got to the business.

"It looked like it was two males, medium to large size men, in hooded sweatshirts, one with a backpack with a Nike swoosh on it and both had gloves on," said Martin. "The weird thing was, they didn't touch the televisions, they just went for the money. They knew what they were going for, but I find that very weird."

Martin said with the help of employees and people in the community, she was able to get the business up and running by 10 a.m.

"With Fallbrook being a small community, they came together to help out," she said. "Rawia (El Farra) from the Happy Jug across the street called Gary from Fallbrook Glass Inc. and he came right away. Faro (Trupiano), my former partner, got us access to a new POS system, new iPads. It was awesome."

Martin said later in the day the Sheriff's office called to tell her that they had found some of her property near Live Oak Road and Mission Road.

"They had just thrown that stuff on the side of the road, there was some change and gift certificates left," she said. "It sounds very similar to some of the other reports in town, some of the other break-ins, and I am wondering if all of these are related."

Anyone with information regarding these incidents should call the San Diego County Sheriff's Department Fallbrook substation at (760) 451-3100.