(Above: Screenshot of the Gonsea’s cash register sparking as the cord is cut. Video below.) 

Eureka Police Department Press Release:

On July 29, 2014, at approximately 3:59 AM, Eureka Police Department officers were dispatched to an audible alarm at a restaurant on the 2300 block of Fourth Street, Eureka. Upon arrival a short time later, officers checked the perimeter and located several items outside the business that were indicative of burglary related activity though its exterior doors and windows appeared secure. 

After obtaining a key from the owner, officers searched the inside of the restaurant and discovered it had been burglarized. The suspect had left sometime prior to the officers’ arrival, possibly via a roof access door. 

Officers collected evidence from the scene including video surveillance footage which was provided to EPD at a later date. Upon reviewing the video, officers identified the suspect as John David Paul Osborn (age 26 of Eureka). In the video, Osborn is seen stealing coins from a donation display board for an ill child and removing the restaurant’s cash register after unwisely cutting its still connected power cord with a metal kitchen cleaver. 

On the evening of August 4, 2014, the investigating officer responded to the Humboldt County Jail where Osborn was already in custody on another matter. (On 8/01/14, around 3:00 PM, EPD officers arrested Osborn and a female companion for burglary, possession of burglary tools, and probation violation after they forced entry into a vacant business on the 300 block of X Street, Eureka). Osborn was arrested and booked for 459 PC (Burglary) in this case.