Local business owners seek answers to Rancho Mirage burglary
A couple of local businesses are asking for the public’s help after thieves broke into their stores in Rancho Mirage and took thousands of dollars in cash and equipment.
“I’m disgusted…angry, and I feel very disheartened,” Aileen Lin, the owner of Kids Clubhouse, said.
That’s how she describes her feelings after her business was broken into from a burglary last week. She says last Tuesday night, someone was able to steal a few thousand dollars worth of cash and electronics from kids clubhouse.
“My Nintendo Wii-U, the Nintendo Switch, my Playstation 4, were all gone,” Lin said.
The burglary also struck the shop next door, Jadabug’s Kids Boutique. Owner Heidi McArthur says cash was stolen from her store.
“It’s extremely violating and really disturbing because we know it’s someone who has been in our stores,” she said.
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/JeremyChenKESQ/status/1037073861945307136″,”author_name”:”Jeremy Chen”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/JeremyChenKESQ”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;I spoke with two business owners in &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/RanchoMirage?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;#RanchoMirage&#lt;/a&#gt; who had their shops burglarized and are seeking the public’s help. Find out tonight on &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/KESQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;@KESQ&#lt;/a&#gt; and &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/LocalTwo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;@LocalTwo&#lt;/a&#gt; why they are taking this burglary personally. &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/gkJmV99XTI”&#gt;pic.twitter.com/gkJmV99XTI&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;– Jeremy Chen (@JeremyChenKESQ) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/JeremyChenKESQ/status/1037073861945307136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;September 4, 2018&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
The owners say whoever broke into their stores, knew it’s layout, kept themselves relatively hidden from surveillance cameras and actually flipped one of them. They also say the burglary seemed very deliberate as nothing else in the stores was touched, only the electronics and cash the owners think were targeted.
“The thief actually went into the cave of plugs, specifically took out plugs that belonged to the electronics,” Lin said.
What perhaps draws the most anger for both women is the fact that their stores serve local kids and parents and the theft by extension is stealing from a vulnerable group.
“Offering something for the kids and taking that away is is disgusting,” Lin said.
Both Lin and McArthur say they have determined the culprit is not an employee and is offering a $1000 cash reward to anyone that has information that leads to an arrest. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department at 760-836-1600.
Download the KESQ & CBS Local 2 app on iTunes or Google Play for up-to-the-minute breaking news alerts & more
More: I-Team and Stands for You investigations
Find us on Facebook: KESQ News Channel 3 & CBS Local 2
Follow us on Twitter for breaking news updates: @KESQ & @Local2
We’re on Instagram! @KESQ_News_Channel_3 & @CBSLocal2
Noticias en español: Telemundo 15
