Sledgehammer-Wielding Suspect Breaks Into Pasadena Ice Cream Shop, Steals Tip Money

A burglary early Wednesday morning rattled La Michoacana De Dena, an ice cream shop in the 1300 block of North Lake Avenue, when a suspect armed with a sledgehammer shattered the front door and stole customer tips from the owner’s office, surveillance footage confirms.

The security video captured the suspect charging through the shop around 4 a.m., breaking into the back office and grabbing a bag containing several $1 bills left as gratuities. No other items were reported stolen.

The intruder fled in a dark-colored sedan and remains at large, Pasadena police told media.

“It’s very stressful, you know, because we have to come in and we have to clean up the mess,” store owner Fernando Camacho said in an interview with ABC7. “I was just like, ‘Man, not again.’” The incident marked yet another disruption for Camacho, who also faced a break-in at a previous location.

Statewide, California’s 2023 property-crime rate dipped slightly compared to prior years, down 0.8% from 2022 and 0.3% from 2019. However, commercial burglary rates remained 6.8% above pre-pandemic levels, and auto theft surged more than 42% over the same timeframe, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

Anyone with information related to these incidents is encouraged to call the Pasadena Police Department at (626) 744-4241 or report information anonymously by contacting Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS (8477), via your smartphone by downloading the P3 Tips mobile app on Google Play or the Apple App Store, or by using the website http://lacrimestoppers.org.