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Burglars keep hitting a family-owned business in Espanola, even though the owners have upgraded security. | ElasticComputeFarm/Pixabay

Store owner on latest break-in: 'It's very depressing'

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Burglars keep hitting a family-owned business in Espanola, even though the owners have upgraded security in the last few months, KRQE reported.

“This is where he broke into," Heather Vigil, co-owner of Dee Dee’s Finest Beef Jerky, told the station. "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."

A surveillance video shows exactly how the thieves broke in. The video also shows a suspect going straight to the inventory room, which makes the family believe it's not the suspect's first time inside. Vigil said.

“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," she said.

The business is still in recovery mode since a prior break-in in December.

“Now we’re like, ‘Here we go again,'" Vigil told KRQE. "We’re on square one, again, having to work extra hours, having to put in extra time just to get our shelves stocked again."

According to Vigil, the family has lost thousands of dollars again between damage and a loss in product, as well as having to throw away jerky from three bins. That is a lot, considering one bin makes between 20 to 25 bags of jerky, with each bag going for $17.

The business was burglarized three times at the previous location and twice since they've moved to their current spot. They increase their security every time they get hit, but that's 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," she said. "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.”

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