By Jason Scheer
The brothers, owners of Simply Cellular at 376 Woodfield Road in West Hempstead, walked into their store on the morning of Tuesday, July 26, and found a scene that has become all too familiar. Their front door's window had been smashed, apparently by a sledgehammer, and their side window had a hole to match.
Fortunately for the Rupertos, that's where the damage ended -- this time. On Feb. 11 and July 6, the store was burglarized. Not only were windows broken, but the expensive display cases inside were ransacked, and dozens of expensive cell phones were taken.
In total, about $6,000 worth of phones were taken in the first incident, and the brothers were forced to pay thousands of dollars more in repair costs.
"This is really, really terrible," John Ruperto said. "We're not in a neighborhood where we feel it's that bad. But somebody keeps trying to break our windows. They're trying to come in."
The brothers, who live in Franklin Square, explained that Simply Cellular is a business that was built from the ground up using a decade of savings. The store opened five years ago, when John was 18 and Joe was 19. The burglaries and vandalism have forced the two to spend more money on security than they had planned, and have put them in a precarious situation. "This is all coming out of our pockets," John Ruperto said as he swept up pieces of broken glass following the latest incident.
"We thought, especially with the way they trashed the place the last time, they would give us a break," he added. "But I guess not."
Despite the hardships, the brothers don't plan on leaving the area. "That's the last option," John said. "That's not even really an option to us. The area -- we consider it home and we don't want to go anywhere."
Instead, the store will be stepping up security, though the brothers declined to comment as to the particulars. Following the February incident, they installed steel-reinforced glass on the windows. The next step may be steel bars on the windows, an avenue the brothers have been asked not to pursue. "The one option we have left is the gate," Joe Ruperto said. "But [the civic association] asked us not to. They're trying to make the neighborhood better, and the gates just make it look worse."
Detective Sgt. Jeanne Gans of the Fifth Precinct said that police are investigating all three incidents but have not made any arrests. She said that Simply Cellular is just one of a number of cell phone stores to be victimized. We have had an enormous number of incidents recently," Gans said. "... We've had 12 in the last month and a half."
She explained that it was unusual for a particular store to be targeted repeatedly, and that burglars tend to take as much as they can the first time and move on.
Gans said she encourages the Rupertos to invest in an alarm system and surveillance equipment. "I would tell them to get a surveillance camera, and if you have them, make sure they are working and record," she said. "It's an investment of a couple of hundred dollars, but it would allow us to make an arrest."
In the wake of the latest attack, the Rupertos have explored the idea of starting a neighborhood watch, which Gans endorsed.
"It makes us stronger to withstand things like this and work through it," Joe Ruperto said, "and we are strong. We are. But we need some more involvement."
Comments about this story? JScheer@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 234.
