‘Very heartbreaking, very disappointing’: Des Moines business broken into 5X in six months

DES MOINES, Wash. — The Church’s Chicken shop in Des Moines says it’s been broken into five times over the past six months. The string of crimes started in December. The latest case was a smash-and-grab that destroyed their main front door overnight.

The local franchise owner, Chris Haque, says he’s at a loss of what to do.

“Very heartbreaking, very disappointing as a business owner. Should we keep the business open?” Haque said. He opened the franchise location in Des Moines on Pacific Highway in 2009. Haque says it’s a popular place for the Highline College students nearby, and things have been good until recently.

“Every time there’s a phone call, it’s oh God, what now?” Haque said.

“For the past six months, it’s getting worse and worse every single day,” said Mohammed Saddique, the district manager for Church’s Chicken.

Surveillance video from early Friday morning shows you the door shattering, then two people under the counter, using a crowbar to pry at something.

It’s the second burglary at the restaurant in 10 days. Haque said the damage to the door from the last incident on May 9 had just been fixed, costing him about $12,000. He said because of high insurance deductibles and impacts to their premium, they pay the cost out of pocket instead of filing a claim.

“It’s not sustainable. It’s becoming very difficult to stay in business,” Haque said.

In the May 9 incident, video shows a suspect apparently holding a long gun, before two people rummage through the cash registers that were empty except for change.

In March, another break-in broke their door.

On February 22, a video shows someone dragging a safe out of the business.

Haque says almost no cash is kept on the site since most people use credit cards, so the much bigger expense is all the damage caused by each break-in.

On top of all that, Church’s Chicken had to remodel after arson in June of 2022. There’s still an official poster from the Arson Alarm Foundation that offers a reward for information.

Saddique said investigators determined someone using drugs outside started the fire, which then spread to part of the building inside as well.

Despite all the recent problems at the chicken shop, the Des Moines police department says burglaries along Pacific Highway are actually down slightly from last year for this time period.

January-May 19 this year saw 12 break-ins, while the same period last year saw 16.

“The data just is not proving that crime is up right now for us. It seems pretty consistent,” said Sgt. Scott Oak with Des Moines PD.

Last month, a vandal smashed about sixteen businesses and homes downtown. Now Des Moines city council has approved a grant to help downtown businesses impacted by that case pay for storefront repairs.

Marina Mercantile was spared but says the fund is a good idea.

“I think it’ll be great because we need all the help we can get down here,” said Joey Kline, the general manager at Marina Mercantile.

Meanwhile, the franchise owner at Church’s Chicken is hoping for change.

“We just need help from everyone – community, our city leaders, and our police departments,” Haque said. “If this continues, I don’t know how long we can stay in business in this neighborhood,” he said.

Sgt. Oak said the city council will collect data from downtown businesses that use the repair grant, and continue discussions on whether to expand that to other businesses impacted by crime across Des Moines.

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