Detectives are searching for two men who were caught on surveillance video stealing a jukebox from the lobby of a Hooters restaurant in the northern hills of San Diego.
Authorities believe the pair mistook the music machine for an ATM.
According to police, the bungling burglary happened on Feb. 19 just after 4 a.m. inside the Rancho Bernardo Hooters located at 16911 W. Bernardo Drive.
The restaurant was closed when two men in a white or silver pickup truck pulled up to the front of the business.
The passenger exited the truck and broke the glass door of the restaurant with an unknown object. Surveillance video (embedded below) shows the driver stayed inside the truck and attempted to back it into the restaurant, but the door opening wasn’t wide enough.
The passenger then took a tow strap from the bed of the truck and wrapped it around a free-standing jukebox that was in the lobby of the restaurant.
The man pushed the jukebox out of the building and the driver helped lift it into the bed of the truck. The pair drove away in an unknown direction.
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Police said the men are both in their late teens or early 20s. They wore dark, baggy clothing – including hooded sweatshirts with the hoods pulled over their heads – during the heist.
Their pickup truck is a late-1990s model Nissan or Dodge with a crew or extended crab. The truck hit the building when the men tried to back up into the lobby, causing damage to the rear sides of the truck and the tail lights.
Detectives found pieces of the broken tail lights at the scene.
Police said the stolen jukebox is about 5 feet tall and has the Hooters logo on it.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact the San Diego Police Department at (858) 538-8000 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.
