A 56-year-old man will spend the next five years in jail for stealing cigarettes and a couple pints of beer. Around one on Wednesday morning, police found Santiago David Swasey trapped inside the Riverside Patio behind the Commercial Center. How he got in there is where our story begins.
Keith Swift Reporting,
The thief or thieves entered the Riverside Patio through this small window. The burglar bars you see today are actually new because the intruders actually cut the bars and then shattered the louvers. Once inside, the thieves looted and trashed the kitchen. Blanca Cantun told us what they found when they arrived on Wednesday morning.
Blanca Cantun,
"They thief Lighthouse, Premium, Belikin Beer, and some cigarettes. When we opened the door and come in, the kitchen was in a mess. We saw Belikin and Lighthouse were thrown around everywhere. The pots were on the floor. The microwave was on one side and it wad damaged. Some little money, change my boss had in the draw there, was gone. That is all."
Police say the man responsible is this man, 56-year-old Santiago David Swasey. But Swasey isn't the first or even the second burglar to hit the Riverside Patio. In fact, since January, this river side restaurant has been burglarized four times. So desperate are the thieves that they've actually broken into the restaurant by tunneling under and entering through this hole which owners have since fixed.
Keith Swift,
Has this happened before?
Blanca Cantun,
"Yes for this year it has been three times."
Again Swasey pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five year in prison.
