Suspect steals cash, electronics in Lacey restaurant break-in



LACEY,  Wash. -- Lacey Police need your help to identify a burglary suspect who broke into Pho Tai restaurant on College Street SE Sunday morning just after 6 a.m. He stole a cash drawer, a Samsung tablet and laptop computers.

"This is the stuff that they use for their day-to-day operations so it has sensitive information on it, employee information, their bankrolls, all the stuff they need to keep their business running," said Sgt. Jaime Newcomb with Lacey Police.

It's hard enough for small businesses to survive without thieves cutting into their profits. Now, the restaurant is having to figure out how to process their online orders and deliver them because the stolen tablets were used to process their Uber orders.

"It’s very sad because it’s never happened before," said store manager Armando Uraas.





Police described the suspect as a light skinned male wearing a black and grey hat, black jacket, grey pants, black gloves and brown 'Romeo' style shoes with medium length black hair.

"It’s very devastating. You have people that work long, tireless hours to provide for themselves and also to give a service to this community and something like this is very significant to their business and their way of life," said Sgt. Newcomb.





Officers think the suspect has committed similar crimes before because of how he dressed and moved on the video. The thief only got away with a small amount of cash, but it is the cost of replacing the electronics that really hurts.

"I hope the cops find him and put him in the jail," said Uraas.





Crime Stoppers of the South Sound is offering a cash reward of up to $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest in the case. Call 1-800-222-TIPS or submit an anonymous tip at www.P3Tips.com or via the P3Tips App you can download to your phone for free.