Thief breaks into Salinas bakery, caught on camera

Salinas businesses are staying alert after a string of thefts happened at two separate locations this week. Both instances were caught on surveillance tape, and both store owners think it is the same guy.

Pictures of the thief were posted on the Salinas Crime Watch page on Facebook.

“He pretty much came through the parking lot and just lifted (the sliding door), crawled under, came and took what he can and just walked out a few minutes later,” said Adele Carrillo, the co-owner of Leal Bakery.

The bakery was hit by the thief on Sunday at about 3:30 in the afternoon. You can se a man in a white hooded sweater with stripes shoes. He ended up stealing a chainsaw, a grinder and a drill from within the bakery.

“We didn’t discover it until the next day once we realized that the door had been left unlocked and noticed that some items were missing,” said Carrillo.

Another post on the Salinas Crime Watch page on Facebook shows pictures of a man breaking into cars and stealing power tools at a Salinas shop Thursday morning.

The owner of that shop says the thief looks strikingly similar to the man seen burglarizing the bakery.

“I really do think it’s the same guy because of the shoes and just the way he stands and his stature and his build, so yeah, I think it’s the same guy,” said Carrillo.

Carrillo says her store has been help up by robbers three times before, so she is hopeful this man is caught soon. They are even offering a reward to help find him.

“Salinas is filled with industrious people that really work hard to support their families, and for someone to just come and take what little they have should be caught and rehabilitated before something more serious happens,” said Carrillo.

Police did not get back to KION before airtime. The bakery has not filed a police report yet, but the other store owner has.

Surveillance footage does show the thief driving a Honda away from the scene with the license plate 3NFW291.