Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Kearns' La Fogata Mexican Restaurant reopened after a Christmas Eve burglary.
- Thieves stole cash and liquor, causing significant losses and property damage.
- Police seek surveillance footage, noting similar crimes targeting Latino businesses recently.
KEARNS — A family scrambled to reopen their Mexican restaurant this weekend after burglars stole all their money, liquor and tools in an overnight break-in on Christmas Eve.
Xochitl Flores arrived at her family's business on the morning of Christmas Eve. She and her loved ones have a tradition of making tamales on Dec. 24. Flores found a ransacked restaurant with cut power, no internet, and the safe broken into.
Unified police confirmed criminals caused property damage in multiple places at the La Fogata Mexican Restaurant at 4722 S. 4015 West in Kearns. Police are hoping nearby businesses will share surveillance video during the hours between 9:15 p.m. on Dec. 23 to about 9 a.m. on Dec. 24.
"It's so hard to be a new small business," Unified Police Sgt. Aimee Race said. "And to experience a break-in over the holidays adds an unexpected heaviness."
Flores told KSL-TV that the thieves stole employee Christmas bonus money, cash from the safe and even her father's needed heart medication.
"It was really invasive; just absolutely sad. It's our first year here, and the restaurant got ransacked like crazy," Flores said. "These criminals cut all our cords to our cameras, our internet, and our security as well. Law enforcement officers told us many other Latino businesses have been targeted in this area in the last month."
La Fogata has been open for business for nine months. This was its first holiday season. The family had prepped to take both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off to share with family.
"Instead, we spent those precious days counting our losses and trying to restore power to our restaurant," Flores said. "They took money. They took liquor bottles. They took everything, but they took a lot of our time away from each other during that little holiday break. That was the only time where we were supposed to exhale and be together. It just felt so ugly."
Burglars cut the power source when they broke in. That left restaurant owners with hundreds of dollars lost in spoiled food that was left rotting in a warm refrigerator.
Flores' mother and restaurant owner, Elfy Silva, immigrated here when she was just 18 years old.
"This restaurant has always been her dream," Flores said. "My mom is so thoughtful about each ingredient that hits the plate. She makes her trips to Mexico. She gathers the chilis from Mexico that we use for the chili verde and the salsa, every other month."
Elfy Silva, her husband, their two daughters and one cook make up the full-time staff.
"We're just a small team of five, and we work all day, every day. This made us feel like we were back at square one. But we will keep going. We have to. We have to make ends meet," Flores said. "We would love for people to come in and try our food! It's delicious and authentic."
Unified police officers remind business owners to call them and ask for extra patrols during holiday breaks or absences.
"We see an increase in thefts when people are away during the holidays," Race said.
