Brownsville Restaurant Burglary: Suspect Was Customer, According To Owner

BROWNSVILLE, BROOKLYN — A man broke into Loma Restaurant in Brownsville right before they opened on Thursday through the roof hatch only to get $50 in cash from the register and a Samsung tablet, cops and restaurant staff said. He also broke into an ATM machine inside the restaurant, damaging it, but he was unsuccessful in getting any money from inside, according to police.

The burglar popped a lock on the inside from the outside on the roof in the back of the establishment to get in, the restaurant's owner told Patch. The owner had seen the burglar a few times in his restaurant, he said. "He knew what he was doing. He knew where we put the money."

There were no injuries, according to the owner. "We're all good," he said.

His staff was in the process of removing the damaged ATM, because they don't want a similar incident to occur, the owner said. He was checking surveillance video to see if the suspect had come in to his restaurant the day before the burglary.

The suspect burglarized the restaurant at around 5 a.m. at 454 Rockaway Ave., the NYPD said. The police describe him as wearing glasses, with tattoos on his left hand, a tattoo on a finger on his right hand and three letters tattooed on his right hand. To keep up with the latest Brownsville-East New York crime, subscribe to the Brownsville-East New York Patch for email newsletters and news alerts that go to your phone.

If you have any information about the suspect or the incident, the police ask that you call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

Photos via NYPD