Since it opened in January of this year, his store has been hit 7 times by burglars. Over the weekend, just two weeks after the most recent break in, thieves once again pried their way past the burglar bars and into the Belizean Handicraft and Gift Center on North Front Street. Proprietor Steven Okeke today made a plea for cooperation from both the police and community.
Stephen Okeke, Burglary Victim
“This is killing me man.”
Stephen Okeke is usually smiling but today he isn't because he just had to lay off his entire staff and he is out thousands of dollars in merchandise after burglars broke into his gift shop late Saturday night. Okeke is frustrated because this isn't the first or the second or the third time, this is the 7th time.
Stephen Okeke,
“Just two weeks ago and now again? Man the guy is draining me.”
“They took a lot of stuff, so much stuff that they couldn’t go with it in one setting. They had to come back in again. And see the person who broke the burglar bar might have been a man but the footsteps we find in the shop is a female footstep. And that is the same footsteps we find everytime they break in.”
KS: You said it’s the 7th time, you believe it’s the same person who group?
Stephen Okeke,
“Not only do I believe that but witnesses keep saying it’s the same person and they keep giving police the same tip of the same names and addresses over and over.”
7 times in ten months but Okeke says he doesn't really want justice. He only wants his stuff back and is asking the public but more so the police for help.
Stephen Okeke,
“I am not interested in taking the person to court or sending them to jail. Just give me my material back. This is something I work hard for.”
“I am begging whoever is in charge whether it be the Commissioner of Police or whoever to please help me.”
Okeke is asking for help because he says he doesn't think his small business will survive a burglary number 8.
Okeke says that over the past 10 months he has lost $20,000 in stolen merchandise.