Former employee arrested after Inver Grove Heights restaurant suffers 4th break-in this year
An arrest has been made after a string of break-ins at a restaurant in Inver Grove Heights over the course of the year.
J's Fish and Chicken, located at 6495 Cahill Ave., has been burglarized four times this year, the most recent of which was this past Tuesday.
On each occasion, glass was smashed as the thief made their entry, costing owner Hazem Aljaroudi around $2,400 each time, and that's not before the cash repeatedly stolen along with other items, including the register and, in one instance, the safe.
After the latest break-in on Tuesday morning, KARE 11 reported that police made an arrest, with the incident captured on surveillance cameras. Aljaroudi says the culprit is a former employee whose information he had passed on to the police.
A GoFundMe page has been launched to help Aljaroudi with the ongoing costs of recovering from the break-ins, with KARE reporting that his insurance company dropped him after the second incident.
"During this pandemic if not everyone struggling local businesses are hurting the most," the fundraising page says.
"Lets get the community together to help them raise money to help cover cost of this horrible event."
As of Thursday morning, the page had raised more than $3,000.