Several stores inside the Jacoby Storehouse were victim to a smash-and-grab burglary that occurred sometime between Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.

Arcata Tuxedo co-owner Stephanie Pfeifer told the Outpost that someone smashed out the windows to her business and to the old Pasta Luego and pasta-making stores down the hall.

“They broke our cash register apart,” Pfeifer said. “They probably only got about $40 in cash, but they also took our work laptop and iPad. They took groomsmen gifts, flasks and knives. They must have hurt themselves because they left a huge trail of blood in our store.”

To make matters worse, Pfeifer said that the Arcta Police Department would not investigate the burglary in person, as they are only responding to violent crimes.

“They wouldn’t come out because of COVID-19, which was really upsetting to me,” Pfeifer said. “The chief of police told us that he’s trying to limit face-to-face contact.”

Arcata Police Department Sgt. Chris Wilson confirmed with the Outpost that officers are taking a somewhat hands-off approach to policing during the coronavirus epidemic.

“We’re trying to do more things over the phone to limit exposure for us,” Sgt. Wilson said. “We’re doing things a little differently.”

Despite APD’s limited response, Sgt. Wilson said that officers were able to catch a suspect burglarizing another store on the Arcata Plaza a couple of weeks ago.

Joey Kendall Hodges. | HCSO

Suspect Joey Kendall Hodges was apprehended while breaking into All Under Heaven on March 21. However, because the Humboldt County Jail is only accepting serious, or violent felony offenders at this time, Hodges was cited and released.

On Sunday, Hodges was apprehended again for burglarizing offices on the 1100 block of 16th Street, across the street from Arcata High School. This time, he was arrested and booked into the Humboldt County Jail on looting charges, which the California Penal Code describes as “second-degree burglary during and within an affected county in a ‘state of emergency’ or a ‘local emergency.’”

While APD tries to adapt its crime-fighting tactics to the epidemic, local business owners like Pfeifer are hoping to hang on while the world rides out COVID-19.

“We’re missing out on prom, which is a big part of our revenue,” Pfeifer said. “We don’t know how this is going to affect the wedding industry just yet. We did have quite a few weddings booked this summer and no one has canceled yet, but if this continues into May or June, I don’t know how we’re going to bounce back.”