Series of Restaurant Break-Ins on Cahill Avenue Connected, Police Believe

Zeze Arafa’s security alarm may be broken, but she still credits the system with “spooking” a burglar that broke into her Cahill Avenue business earlier this month.

Arafa’s café, the Cahill Diner, is one of three local restaurants raided in a series of burglaries over the last several weeks. Inver Grove Heights police believe the break-ins may be connected, and are looking for a suspect caught on tape at one of the crimes.

“I came in [the next morning] and we were turning the lights on, and we see money all over the floor,” Arafa said. “It was me and my daughter. We ran out and said, ‘Okay, we must have gotten robbed.”

Thinking the burglar may still be in the building, Arafa called the police. Officers searched her restaurant, Arafa said, but came up empty-handed. The would-be burglar did as well when he or she tried to steal money from the restaurant, Arafa said. Although Arafa’s cash register and a filing cabinet were broken into, the burglar didn’t steal any money or documents. Arafa, an Eagan resident, speculates that the criminal was scared by Arafa’s broken alarm system, which goes off randomly.

Tracy Brakemeier, one of the owners of next-door restaurant Pizza Man, wasn’t as lucky. In an eerily-similar break-in at the end of February, a burglar got away with at least $150 that was in the Pizza Man register. The most recent burglary occurred at Bierstube — a block away from Pizza Man and the diner. There, video surveillance picked up images of a suspect forcing open the front door of the business around 3:30am. No money was taken in that incident, according to police reports, but the burglar did break into the pull-tab booth in the bar.

Inver Grove Heights Police Department Lt. Larry Stanger said police investigators believe the crimes, which occurred in close proximity over a two-week span, are connected. In each case, the burglar used a tool to pry open the locking plate on the business’ front door. In both the Pizza Man and Cahill Diner burglaries, the suspect rummaged through the register and filing cabinets in the businesses. Police do not yet have a suspect in the cases, Stanger said, in part because the video images of the break-in at Bierstube didn’t give a clear view of the intruder.

Police have increased the frequency of patrols in the neighborhood, which is just north of 70th Street on Cahill Avenue, and are doing early-morning checks on businesses in the area, Stanger said. Police aren’t sure if a fourth, subsequent break-in at a nearby gas station is related, Stanger said. In that incident, the burglar entered through the car wash after clipping the phone lines to disable power to the surveillance cameras.

The series of burglaries surprised Brakemeier, who said the area is well-lit and well-traveled. In three years of business on Cahill, Pizza Man never had any previous problems, Brakemeier said.

“Obviously whoever did it knew what they were doing, because they were in and out fairly quickly,” Brakemeier said. “Considering that they could have done a lot more damage to the store itself, we’re just happy that’s all they got away with.”

In response to the break-in at Cahill Diner, Arafa said she is installing two night-vision security cameras and replacing the broken alarm system.

“Usually it’s a safe, neighborhood, I’ve had no problem and I’ve been here two years,” Arafa said.

Police are looking for a 6'1'' white male who was caught on tape during the break-in at Bierstube. If you have any information about the incidents, call the Inver Grove Heights Police Department at 651-450-2525.