Deli owner a four-time crime victim

Dominick Grossi Jr. has lost a lot as a result of being the victim of four crimes in less than 90 days at his Fallbrook business, Dominick’s Italian Deli & Sandwiches, but one thing he hasn’t lost is his sense of humor. Grossi continues to greet his customers in his usual joking manner while receiving a bevy of advice on his misfortune.

“I’ve been told I should put bars on my windows and doors, but I don’t want this to look like Los Angeles or Tijuana; I just want to run a little deli in this cute town,” Grossi said. “Plus, everything costs a lot for a tiny business. [We] small businesses hang on by our teeth most of the time.”

In business here for 22 years, Grossi said up until August of this year, he had “only been broken into four times.”

“Now we’ve been broken into eight times — the last four in three months,” he said. “This is now becoming a joke around town — welcome to Fallbrook.”

The three burglaries (August 9, August 19 and October 25) and one incident of vandalism (September 15) at the business are still unsolved and Grossi admits to being frustrated with local law enforcement.

“I never hear back regarding anything,” Grossi said. “The sergeant told me they are very busy and that I was a low priority. It’s getting a little old and I feel like I have a big target on my head.”

“All I can tell you is that the three burglary cases with Dominick’s are still open cases,” Sgt. Rich Hendrickson said. “The only thing I can do is encourage victims of multiple hits to do is to contact our Crime Prevention Specialist to learn how to make their businesses more secure.”

While Hendrickson said he would not categorize the cases as low priorities with the agency, he admitted, “We have a lot of other things going on other than commercial burglaries.”

When asked how actively the department is pursuing resolution to the cases, he replied, “When we prioritize cases, its based on leads and information. Some cases are based on their workability.”

For Grossi, the losses haven’t been catastrophic — more than anything they have been inconvenient and have collectively been costly in repairing damage to the store.

In the first burglary on August 9, the thieves got away with a briefcase full of checks, credit card records, almost $3,000 in cash, two cases of beer, two cases of wine, coins, a case and a half of cookies and a case of candy bars.

“After that, I had all new locks installed and started looking into getting a security system,” Grossi said. “The Sheriff’s Department talked to me but didn’t take any prints from the scene.”

Burglary number two occurred on August 19 when the perpetrator broke the front door to gain access. In that theft, all that was lost was a roll of coins ($150), a counterfeit $100 bill and foreign currency depicting Saddam Hussein that some members of the military folks provided to the business. They also took five cases of beer and wine and some rainbow pasta.

“I guess I’m providing lunch for them now too,” sighed Grossi. He said after the second incident, the Sheriff’s Department lifted some fingerprints from the scene and he asked if deputies could periodically patrol the shopping center at night but has not been made aware if they acted on that request.

“I just told them that I felt that their presence would discourage people from breaking in,” he recalled.

The third incident was one of vandalism. One of the delicatessen’s front windows was broken along with windows of several other businesses in the shopping center — a dog grooming parlor, a beauty salon, a real estate office, a dental office and more, Grossi said.

“They said there was blood evidence at the beauty parlor,” Grossi said.

On October 25, Grossi’s bad luck returned and someone broke a window to gain access, despite all the lights being on in the store.

“They took one of my cash registers with $150 worth of coins and went out the back door,” he said. “However, they accidentally left a small amount of crystal meth on the floor.” When Sheriff’s deputies arrived, Grossi said he asked, “This is four times in less than three months. Is there any chance you might investigate this time?” Grossi said the deputies replied, “All we do is take the report; it’s up to the detectives.” However, Grossi said, the deputies did lift fingerprints and take photos of shoe prints and of the front and back of the store.

“The deputy said he got some good prints,” Grossi said. “Maybe that means something.”

When asked if he had utilized the Crime Prevention resources offered by the Sheriff’s Department, Grossi admitted, “I haven’t contacted them, but they haven’t offered it either.”

When asked about the current outlook on commercial burglaries, Sgt. Hendrickson replied, “In the last couple of weeks, commercial burglaries have actually subsided.”