Man targets small, local businesses in Roseville

ROSEVILLE, Mich. (WXYZ) — A thief is targeting small, locally owned pet stores in Roseville, attempting to get away with the cash in their registers.

Both of the businesses that were either robbed or nearly robbed are less than half a mile away from each other.

Great Lakes Reptiles on 10 Mile Road and Gratiot Avenue takes in surrendered animals and sells and cares for just about every critter in the book. A few weeks ago, a man entered their building and stole and undisclosed amount of cash before getting away.

This set the business back financially and they're now offering deals to get more customers in their doors.

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“We are currently doing 20% off everything to try to recover some of the costs that we did incur from the incident,” Great Lakes Reptiles employee Christine Canary said. “Lot of hungry mouths to feed, lot of overhead, lot of heat bulbs, so were doing the best we can after taking the hit.”

The business quickly let other pet stores in the area know of the crime and still on Tuesday, Roseville police say under similar circumstances, a man entered Oceans & Seas just down the street and attempted to do the same thing.

“All we had was like $40 in the drawer and to do something stupid like that for $40, it just doesn’t make sense,” Oceans and Seas owner Brian Vansen said.

Vansen says the thief asked his close friend who helps around the store to see something in the back. Once the the friend stepped away, he heard the cash drawer opening and ran right back.

“Tried to stop him and he knocked the money out of his hand and that fell to the floor and the guy then started beating on my friend,” Vansen said. “They fought for a few minutes and the guy ran out the door.”

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After assaulting Vansen's friend, the man took off, leaving behind what Vansen describes as part of an ankle tether.

“It’s like have you ever heard of world’s dumbest criminals? This might qualify for that category,” Canary said.

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These local businesses say they're just trying to pay their bills, keep the water running and take care of their animals. While this is the last thing they want to deal with, they’re hopeful the pet store thief will be caught soon.

Roseville police are investigating. If you know anything, be sure to call.