FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) — The owner of a local Fresno clothing store says he’s fed up after yet another theft at his business, the second one so far this year.
Just last week, the owner of Drip On Drip, located in Fresno, says a group of men walked into his store and stole nearly $900 worth of merchandise, and it was all caught on camera.
A little over three years ago, Roman Gonzalez opened the store with hopes of building a successful small business in the community.
But since then, he says he has had to deal with multiple break-ins.
In one case, thieves crashed a car into the building before stealing several items.
The most recent theft occurred on February 27, when Gonzalez says two groups of men entered the store and waited for the right moment to strike.
“So there was two different friend groups that came in and they just looked at the perfect moment to grab some stuff and walk out,” Gonzalez said.
After previous thefts, Gonzalez says he began wrapping each hanger with a wire connected to the rack to prevent people from grabbing large amounts of clothing at once. However, two clothing racks were left unsecured — and those were the ones the suspects targeted.
“With other smash-and-grabs or consumers coming in and running out with clothing, we learned to tie up all of our racks with cables so they can’t grab a whole lot in a row,” Gonzalez explained.
Now, Gonzalez says he is considering adding more security measures, including requiring customers to leave their bags near the entrance.
As a family-owned business, he says he doesn’t like taking those steps but feels they may be necessary to keep his doors open.
“We try to at least give the benefit of the doubt, but the benefit didn’t pan out for us this time,” he said.
Gonzalez says he filed a police report but has not received any updates.
