When Ryleigh Sharp came to work Wednesday morning to find the front door to Pho Boca shattered, glass littering the ground, she immediately knew what happened.
The restaurant where she has worked as a head server for five years was one of the latest hit in a string of burglaries at businesses west of Boca Raton. The burglar has recently broken in to businesses and headed for cash registers a dozen times in the area, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said Monday.
Since November 2021, the male burglar, who deputies are still searching for, is believed to have been involved in 12 burglaries at businesses on six different dates, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The burglar smashed into Pho Boca, at 9181 Glades Road, Unit 110, shortly before 2 a.m. Wednesday. The restaurant’s surveillance video captured a man breaking through the door and walking through the business with an object in his right hand before walking out of the camera’s view.
He ripped a cash register off the counter, Sharp said, smashed the screen and left with the entire cash box with about $200 to $250 inside.
When Sharp got to work later that morning, she saw the door to the neighboring restaurant Bamboo Wok, at 9181 Glades Road, Unit 100, also had been destroyed.
But Sharp didn’t know until Monday that the same burglar already had broken into several businesses in the area in the weeks before. Two more businesses would be hit in the following days — one in the same plaza as Pho Boca and Bamboo Wok.
“I think it’s brave. You would have to think after robbing two restaurants you wouldn’t step foot near the place where that happened,” Sharp said. “But he just came back totally showing his face and everything and did it again.”
About 5 a.m. Saturday, the burglar entered Stallone’s Italian Kitchen at 9181 Glades Road. Robert Stallone, the owner’s son, said the incident at his family’s business was identical to the others: the burglar smashed the glass door and darted for the cash register.
After a burglary years ago, they learned not to keep cash in the drawers, Stallone said. The burglar left with just a few dollars in coins, Stallone said, many of which were scattered around the pavement outside.
“We were definitely surprised that he would come back to the same place … He looked pretty mad [in the video] when he realized there was no cash in the drawer, too,” Stallone said.
Lindee Usamanont, owner of UB-Thai at 6063 SW 18th St., said the burglar broke into her restaurant twice, on Dec. 6 and again on Jan. 31.
In the first break-in, the suspect stole about $900 in cash, Usamanont said. She estimated she lost about $5,900 in total from the stolen cash, the damage to the store and having to shut down for half of a business day to clean and repair.
When the burglar returned last Monday, he smashed the door again and left with a few hundred dollars. Usamanont said her security system sent an alert to her cell phone that morning shortly after 1 a.m., and when she checked the cameras, she saw nothing out of the ordinary.
But by 4 a.m., Usamanont received another alert. She saw lights were on inside the restaurant, and police officers were inside when she checked the cameras again, she said.
“Every time I wake up in the middle of the night, I can’t help it, but I keep checking my phone. I just constantly have to look at it because I’m scared,” Usamanont said.
Usamanont said she has had to pay for the repairs and damages out of pocket, a financial burden on the mom-and-pop restaurant that opened in May.
“How many more? Everybody’s on edge,” she said.
The Sheriff’s Office has not released the names and specific addresses of the businesses. Teri Barbera, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office, said Tuesday detectives believe the suspect may be from northern Broward County.
The burglar also robbed four businesses at two strip malls at the intersection of Southwest 18th Street and Palm D’oro Road after 11 p.m. Nov. 2, the Sheriff’s Office said.
UB-Thai was broken into next shortly before 3 a.m. Dec. 6, Usamanont said. Another business on Southwest 18th Street was robbed that morning, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The third incident occurred in the early morning of Dec. 22 when another business on Southwest 18th Street was broken into, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Then on Jan. 31, Usamanont’s surveillance cameras captured the second break in through the front door a few minutes before 1 a.m.
On Wednesday, Pho Boca and Bamboo Wok on Glades Road became the next victims just before 2 a.m., restaurant employees said. The burglar got into Stallone’s Italian Kitchen, located in the same plaza, later that week.
Another business at 23261 State Road 7 was burglarized about 6:20 a.m. Saturday, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The Sheriff’s Office asks anyone who may be able to identify the man in the video to call 1-800-458-8477 or download the PBSO app using the “See Something” feature.
