Video captures suspected burglar ransacking tavern in Riverside

Police are searching for a burglar who was captured on camera smashing and ransacking a local tavern in Riverside last Sunday.

The brazen burglar was seen in and out of Crowley’s Tavern in just under three minutes.

“Never seen him,” Ashley Patino, the bar’s manager tells KTLA’s Shelby Nelson. “I don’t know if some of the other girls have here, but we have it posted all over social media.”

Video shows the suspect standing outside of the tavern’s front doors. With one sudden strike, the man shatters the glass doors and strolls inside.

“He broke the window door that we have and then had run through and knew kind of exactly where to go,” said Patino.

An employee had worked a double shift that day and closed up earlier than usual around 8 p.m.

About 30 minutes later, the suspect appears. The business owners believe he had been waiting for the right moment to strike.

Security video shows the man rummaging through the office area while holding a flashlight. He eventually spots the safe and quickly snatches it. Patino says he also grabbed the cash register before fleeing the tavern.

“I would say for sure, $300, because that’s what we had in our drawer and then as far as the safe goes, I had cleared a lot of things out the day prior, so not too much.”

Overall, Patino says the business lost about $1,000 in damages.

For some reason, the security alarm did not trigger during the theft and the owners were alerted by a neighboring business the next day.

Riverside Police are still searching for the suspect describing him as a white or Hispanic male. Patino says the man is in his mid-30s with a beard and a tattoo under his left eye.