3 Restaurants To Help Each Other After Smash & Grab Burglar Strikes

By Stan Bush

DENVER (CBS4) - Denver police are looking for a suspect who allegedly broke into three restaurants early Monday morning.

The suspect in the smash-and-grabs used a blunt object to break through heavy glass doors at the restaurants located on East Hampden Avenue near South Monaco Parkway.

The three restaurants that were hit were Milk and Cake, The Egg Kitchen and Taziki's. Denver police said they have been dealing with a series of smash-and-grab burglaries over the last month.

Surveillance video inside the Taziki's restaurant that was targeted showed a suspect wearing a hoodie under a jacket break in and run through the restaurant looking for anything to steal. When the suspect, who appears to be a male, can't find anything to take he flees.

"We don't want to keep getting robbed, so we're seeing what we can do to help each other," says Johnnie Cotton, owner of Taziki's.

The suspect stole an undisclosed amount of cash from the register of one of the restaurants that was burglarized. The damage to the doors is said to be more valuable than the amount the suspect got away with. Cotton says owners of the restaurants feel violated.

"Stuff costs money and these are small businesses ... money going out with none coming in, it hurts," said Cotton.

Denver police have not released any descriptive information regarding the suspect.

Additional Information From The Denver Police Department

Remain anonymous and earn up to $2,000. Call Crime Stoppers at (720) 913-STOP (7867). Text to CRIMES (274637) then title DMCS and enter the message, or send an e-mail to metro-denvercrimestoppers.com; or use the Metro Denver Crime Stoppers mobile app which is immediately available as a free download on smartphones.

Stan Bush is a general assignment reporter at CBS4. His stories can be seen on CBS4 News at 10. Read his bio and follow him on Twitter @StanBushTV.