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On Sunday night, some of the victims shared their stories exclusively with CBS2’s Tim McNicholas.
Security video from Fantastic Bagels owner Pedro Tlapa shows two people outside his store, one of them pulling on the door in the early hours of September 5.
As the video shows, the thief finally breaks in and goes straight to the cash register, poking around with a flashlight.
Later that morning, Tlapa found the store in disarray and more than $3,700 missing.
“We work hard to make a couple of bucks, a couple of bucks, and those guys come and break. They make you sad, because that’s not good,” Tlapa said.
Police say thieves broke into two other Bay Ridge businesses that same morning and three others the morning of Aug. 30, all within a mile and a half of each other.
Detectives say they are looking for two men, seen on surveillance video at a gas station, in connection with the six robberies.
“It makes you wonder about human nature,” said Douglas Kelleher, general manager of Cebu, a Third Avenue bar and bistro that lost more than $4,000 on Aug. 30.
“They know that the people they are robbing are upset. They know the people they’re robbing are making their money and they don’t seem to care,” Kelleher said.
Police say the robbers got away with $12,000 from another Third Avenue restaurant that same morning.
Tlapa and his team are working to earn their $3,700 and shared some tips for thieves.
“Find another way to make money,” Tlapa said.
NYPD data shows police precinct robberies are down 16 percent compared to last year. Citywide, they’re up 33 percent.
