Burglars have struck a downtown business once again, this time preying on a graphic design company on Fifth and Monterey Streets.
At 4:56 a.m. Monday, suspects broke down the metal bolted door at Articulate Solutions with a crowbar and took a computer from the front desk, according to the business’ owner Kat Filice.Â
“Thankfully, the alarm went off before they could take anything else,” Filice said.Â
Police were on the scene a few minutes after the alarm went off, but did not see the suspect or suspects flee. No other items were taken from the store. The total value of the computer and the door is somewhere between $2,000 to $3,000, Filice said.Â
Filice got the call from Gilroy Police just before 5 a.m. and arrived at the store at 5:10 a.m.
Proud to be a downtown business owner, Filice said she has never felt unsafe before this.
“This is the first time we’ve ever had anything happen here, and we’ve been in business (at this location) nine years,” she said. “We’ve always felt safe, we love it in downtown and have no plans to leave. It’s just unfortunate what’s going on the last few months with all these burglaries. My guess is it’s the same people and once they are caught things will calm down.”
Filice was referring to the rash of four break-ins at downtown antique shops over the past few months.Â
Filice’s landlords, Joe and Gary Walton arrived on the scene around 6 a.m. to guard the broken door so Filice could go home to shower. Filice said with a little tweaking to their security system, she is certain that the thieves won’t be back.Â
“Now we’re declaring a full on war with the burglars,” she said.Â
Gilroy Police Sgt. Pedro Espinoza said when police arrived at 4:58 a.m., the building smelled of marijuana, suggesting that the suspects were high when they broke in.Â
The case has not been assigned to a detective yet, Espinoza said.Â
“We’ll review it to see what type of evidence was collected. Sometimes we can follow up, and sometimes we can’t, based on what evidence we have,” he said.Â
