A warehouse owned by the nonprofit organization Angel of Edgewood in Hartford was broken into for the second time in less than a week.
The first incident occurred last Wednesday and the second on Sunday night.
The organization runs food pantries, a community cafe, and a mobile soup kitchen serving the Hartford community. It says toys, books and other items were stolen from its warehouse and estimates at least $50,000 in lost items.
“They not only hurt me,” says founder Jendayi Scott-Miller. “They really hurt the community, really bad. I just hope that the items that they stole, you know, people wouldn’t purchase.”
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The burglar allegedly used a crowbar to enter through the front door, which she says is different from the last incident, where the thieves entered through the garbage chute. That chute is now welded close.
“I couldn’t get in the door,” she says. “I’m like pulling and pull and I thought that the inside latch was closed. And I was like no, something isn’t right.”
Scott-Miller alongside her husband have been taking shifts sleeping outside the warehouse. She says Sunday night she returned home at midnight.
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“Last night was the first night I went home,” she says. “The one night that we went home is when they broke in, so they’re watching.”
She says hiring security for the building is too expensive.
“It cost money, something we don’t have,” says Scott-Miller. “We really have to ramp it up and camp out. Get some volunteers, hopefully to help us, sit out here and take shifts. But you know, we shouldn’t have to do this.”
The building currently doesn’t have an alarm system or security cameras, which Scott-Miller says is due to the lack of Wi-Fi.
“Since last week we’ve been trying to get Wi-Fi,” says Scott-Miller. “Our neighbors, it’s been a struggled with them signing the waivers with Comcast to allow us on their side of the property.”
NBC Connecticut reached out to the neighbors, Children & Family Dentistry & Braces, and it said it did not want to comment on the situation and the owners were not available for an interview.
“It’s just really frustrating that the dental office isn’t cooperating with signing the waiver,’ says Scott-Miller.
In a statement, Hartford Police said it can’t comment on an open investigation, but it has “processed evidence and that they Major Crimes Burglary Division is actively investigating the incident.”
