Burglars strike same place twice in Newark

NEWARK, NJ (WABC) -- Burglars have hit the same business for a second time in three weeks, and the angry owner wants to know: where were the police?

Both incidents were caught on camera.

The burglar cuts the lock, rolls up the steel security gate, and then spends the next 90 minutes breaking-in, returning several times before the lock is finally picked.

He charges through the front door and starts stuffing his bag with everything he can get his hands on - Cell phones, batteries, chargers, headphones and fistfuls of cash.

The alarm goes off, but it apparently means little. The burglar will have at least five more minutes before the Newark police arrive to investigate.

Ben Rafeh says he understood the first time, but when it happened again last night, he was furious.

This thief cut the internet and telephone lines, busted through the back wall and got to work. This time, the burglar even took Ben's licensed 9mm handgun in addition to everything else.

Ben says officers told him that there are just three overnight patrol cars in this sector of the city. The police, he says, are investigating and very apologetic.

"Sorry doesn't pay my bills," he said.

A Newark police spokesman insisted that budget cuts have not affected the city's level of policing and the break-ins are simply crimes of opportunity.

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new jersey, newark, crime, burglary, new jersey news, n.j. burkett

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