100+ Break-ins May Be the Work of One Man: Cops

It's been the story at businesses from Encinitas, San Marcos, Vista to Oceanside. A burglar breaks a window, grabs cash or small items and takes off.

Since March 2010, there have been more than 100 early morning business break-ins. A variety of different stores have been targeted.

Now, detectives say they believe there's one suspect linked to most of the cases.

George Rosenelatt, who owns Tri-City Tropical Fish in Vista was burglarized in June.

“I looked down on the ground, there is glass everywhere, sure enough there is a hole in the window," Rosenelatt said.

“Even though he stole 100 bucks worth of stuff, it cost almost $200 to fix the window,” he said.

The most recent burglary in the spree took place at  Ella Grace Boutique last Friday. The clothing store is just two doors down from the fish store.

Eric Dowdy, who owns Auto Electric Repair next door said, “He's obviously a career criminal, not very bright, very desperate.”

Dowdy captured the suspect's image around 4 a.m. on his shop's surveillance camera.

“Maybe he is going to keep going until he gets caught, but that's crazy,” he said.

Investigators say they're extremely concerned. They have very little evidence and think the burglar is getting more bold.

“It's just unfortunate that in this day and age, somebody has such little respect for anyone’s property they are willing to smash out windows," said Rosenelatt. "Hopefully someone out there knows who did it, and will put a stop to this.”

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