Police are investigating an apparent burglary at Grandma Betty’s Ice Cream Shop in the Village but said the main suspect in the case said he was given permission to take items from the store.
Jeannine Lee Lake said she walked into her not-for-profit dessert shop and found tables lying on their sides. Neon red, blue and green gumballs spilled from their broken machines and covered the floor, mixed with shattered remains of expensive equipment, most of which was missing.
“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 computers, refrigerators and freezers were taken from her small store.
A few hours later, Kent Kurtz, University Police Department detective sergeant, told Lake that most of her equipment was recovered in two apartments — one owned by a person Lake said comes to the shop every night.
Jeannaine Lee Lake, owner of Grandma Betty’s, and Bella Marie Neff, a freshman elementary and special education major survey the damage done to the business after a supposed break-in. Police found the missing equipment less than a day later.
Kurtz said other metal items, including large metal preparation trays and ice cream containers, were sold for scrap to OmniSource Corporation, a local metal recycling facility.
Lake and UPD would not release the name of the suspect, and UPD had not filed a police report by the time of publication.
Lake told police she had given the man permission to take a microwave from the shop a few days prior to the break-in.
Kurtz said the suspect in the burglary told a different story. He said the man told police that Lake had given him permission to take “anything he wanted” because the business was going to close down soon.
Lake said the man was mistaken.
“Even if he did think he could take more things, why would he ransack the shop?” she said.
Grandma Betty’s Jeannine Lee Lake sweep up damage done during an apparent burglary on Wednesday. Police are questioning a discrepancy in statements between Lake and the suspect of the crime.
Despite the discrepancy, the incident is still being treated as a crime, Kurtz said, because the man used force to enter the building.
Kurtz said it isn’t up to him to decide what the possible misunderstanding means.
Police will turn over paperwork to the county prosecutor, who will then look at the case and ultimately decide whether charges should be filed. If the suspect is convicted of burglary, that could mean jail time and a fine. For Lake, if she gave the man permission to take items and then told UPD he stole them, she could face charges of false reporting.
Lake will get most of her equipment back next week. But she said she doesn’t know when, or even if, the business will open again in the Village.
Grandma Betty’s first opened in the Village in 2001. The business doesn’t have set prices for its ice cream and desserts, but instead takes donations to keep the place running. Lake also acts on the board of directors for Feed My Sheep, a charity that works to feed people who are homeless and serves dinner to local families in need during Christmas and Easter.
Lake said Grandma Betty’s has suffered from an “inordinate amount of vandalism” over the past few months, including two shattered windows and a broken door, which may lead her to move the business.
“I don’t know what it is,” she said. “I may have to get out of the game.”
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