Castro Location Of Jeffrey's Natural Pet Foods Burglarized For 2nd Time In 5 Months

Castro Location Of Jeffrey's Natural Pet Foods Burglarized For 2nd Time In 5 MonthsPhoto: Shane Downing/Hoodline
Shane Downing
Published on May 10, 2016

It happened again.

On Sunday night, Jeffrey’s Natural Pet Foods, located at Noe and Market, was burglarized for the second time in five months. The store was previously broken into on New Year’s Eve.

Since March, we’ve reported an ongoing string of break-in burglaries at small businesses in the Castro, including Crystal Way and Jungle Red.

According to Anna Thiel, the manager of the Castro location of Jeffrey's, both the December 31st break-in and Sunday night’s break-in seem to have been perpetuated by the same individual(s).

“It’s been the same both times,” she said. “They access the store through the back, which means that they’re also going through our neighbors’ yards and neighbor stores’ yards. It's creeping out our neighbors.”

Thiel guessed that a crowbar was used to pry open the store’s back window, and the same instrument was used to get into the store’s register and safe. No products or electronics were stolen, only cash. 

“It’s somebody with some experience of how retail works, otherwise they wouldn’t be targeting a store on a Sunday night. That’s usually when stores have the most cash on them, because banks are closed,” said Thiel.  

Jeffrey’s filed a police report after both burglaries; however, there are no suspects. “They just think it’s the same person, based on what we’re saying,” said Thiel.

In the meantime, “we’ve secured the back window and we’ve reinforced our back door. And then extra lighting and security cameras and an alarm system will be our follow-up measure,” said Thiel, who also mentioned that the store’s other two locations will also have alarm systems installed.

“It just sucks,” said Thiel. “We’re a small mom-and-pop. It’s hard to get by in this city, and we do our best.”