Grandma Betty’s Ice Cream Shop, the only not-for-profit business in the Village, had $30,000 in equipment stolen after it was broken into late Tuesday night. Jeannine Lee Lake, owner of the business, said she found her shop this morning with the back door kicked in, tables on their sides and much of her expensive equipment missing or shattered on the floor. “It’s just a bad day,” she said. “If you are going to steal everything, I can understand it, you need the money. But why do you have to destroy everything?” Lake said the business has been suffering from an “inordinate amount of vandalism” over the past few months, including two shattered windows and a broken door. The vandalism has caused her to question moving to a new location. Kent Kurtz, University Police Department detective sergeant, told Lake around 2 p.m. that police had recovered most of the equipment that had been stolen from the business. Some of the metal items, including large metal preparation trays and buckets used to hold ice cream, had been sold to OmniSource, a local metal recycling facility, Kurtz said. Much of rest of the equipment was found separated between two apartments, one owned by a person Lake said comes to the shop every night. Kurtz would not release the name, although he said the man used his own name and identification to sell the items. Kurtz said the suspect told officers that Lake told him that he could “have whatever he wanted.” She said she had allowed the man to take a microwave, but did not tell him to take anything else. “Even if he did think he could take more things, why would he ransack the shop?” Lake said. She should get the stolen goods back next week, although she doesn’t know when or if the shop will be open.
Police investigate damage at Grandma Betty's Ice Cream Shop
