San Bernardino boba shop seeing record number of break-ins this year: 'It's really disheartening'

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) -- Burglars have been targeting a San Bernardino boba shop since the beginning of the year.

The most recent incident happened midnight on Wednesday.

Viva La Boba has been at their location just two blocks away from the San Bernardino County Superior Court since 2019. The owners told Eyewitness News crime really began to increase this year.

"We had an attempted break-in a week prior to this, so our glass was already damaged and scheduled to be replaced the early morning that we had this break-in happen," said co-owner Tansu Philip. "It was a person that we've seen before in the downtown San Bernardino area, an unhoused person."

Philip said the man has since been arrested. She said in the last year, their store has been burglarized and vandalized.

According to an Instagram post, the Pride flag at their Redlands location has been stolen three times.

"Viva La Boba is truly a community-oriented business," said Philip. "We really work with and for the community, so it's really disheartening when we have a break-in like this. It feels like no small business should be targeted but especially not one that works so closely to help the community."

Eyewitness News reached out to the San Bernardino Police Department for more on Wednesday's break-in as well as others that have happened throughout the year but has not heard back.