VISTA — A brazen rooftop theft rocked business owners and employees several weeks ago.
This time, though, one of the victims was Vista Mayor John Franklin, whose business, Franklin Communications, was robbed by at least two men in the late and early hours of March 9-10, he said. While his office was bypassed by the alleged thieves, they entered a storage room and stole electronic equipment with thousands of dollars.
San Diego County Sheriff Detective Sam Anderson said an estimated $50,000 in electronic equipment, computers, CPUs, monitors, TVs and other items were stolen. He said those types of items are targeted for criminals to sell quickly or cross the Mexican border and fence the items there. In addition, he said there’s no doubt the criminals in this case had scouted the building before the burglary and theft.
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Greg Testa, a Vista native and lawyer with an office in the same three-story building off state Route 78 several miles south of downtown in Shadowridge, said the alleged burglars were sophisticated and took their time. He said he caught two men on his Ring security camera — one masked and the other unmasked — had between three to four hours all to themselves in the building.
Another business had many brand-new Apple laptop computers stolen, while a financial services business was also victimized for an undisclosed amount of equipment and other materials, Testa and Franklin said.
The brazen burglary left himself, his employees and others in the building rattled and scared as the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department has not made an arrest. The investigation is ongoing and is unclear if the rings are gang-related or independent operations.
“I don’t think this was targeted to me,” Franklin said. “They seemed to be after computer equipment. It’s just frustrating that this has become the norm. These people came in with large tools.”
