ESPAÑOLA, N.M. (KRQE) – A family-owned business in Española is at its wits ends after being broken into five times. While they’ve upgraded their security over the last few months, thieves are still finding ways to get in.
Heather Vigil, co-owner of Dee Dee’s Finest Beef Jerky, provided a video that showed how a thief broke into the local business two weeks ago in Española.
“This is where he broke into. You can see our exhaust fan was installed there. He was able to pop the cover off, and he must’ve shoved something to have the fan to stop [it] from moving, and then he pushed it through, and jumped through there,” said Vigil.
In the surveillance video, you can see a suspect going straight to the inventory room. After watching that, the family believes this wasn’t the first time the suspect has been inside.
“It was weird because it’s almost like he knew our building like he had been here before, so that was pretty strange to us,” said Vigil.
The owners said they were just recovering from the break-in they had last December when the next break-in happened.
“Even this break-in, no,w we’re like, ‘Here we go again. We’re on square one, again, having to work extra hours, having to put in extra time just to get our shelves stocked again,’” explained Vigil.
She said they’ve lost thousands of dollars again between damage and a loss in product, having to throw away jerky from three bins. One bin alone makes between 20 to 25 bags of jerky, with each bag going for $17.
Vigil explained, at their previous location, they got broken into three times, and now, twice at their new spot. Every time they get hit, they up their security, but that’s unfortunately not stopping the thieves.
“Each time we get broken into, our security system improves just a little bit more because we’re trying to prevent it altogether,” said Vigil. “It’s very depressing. Every time the topic is brought up, we all get emotional because we look at our hometown as our hometown. We love it here.”
If you recognize the suspect or have any information, you’re encouraged to call Española Police.