A vandal hacking away at vending machines with a pickaxe on school campuses in Santa Clarita has cost a local business owner more than $75,000 between money stolen from the machines and the cost of parts and repairs.
According to Lisa Burke, who owns and operates Santa Clarita Concessions, a company her father founded 69 years ago, the vandal began mauling her machines on Dec. 23 and remains on the loose.
Burke told KTLA’s Shelby Nelson that she’s unsure why the machines are being targeted because none of them even hold that much cash.
“I want to cry because this is not okay,” she said.
In one of the several vending machine break-ins, surveillance cameras on the campus of a Santa Clarita school captured the hooded suspect wielding a pickaxe to smash into one of the machines. At one point, the man briefly walks away from the machines to take a look around, before going back to the machines.
“We’re guessing that maybe he’s jumping the fence,” Burke explained. “It’s hard to tell where he’s coming from.”
The business owner believes it’s the same person who committed other thefts at other junior high and high school campuses in Santa Clarita where she also has vending machines.
Many of the vending machines have been found heavily damaged and torn apart with the money inside stolen. Some of the machines have even been mangled beyond repair.
“As a small business owner, it’s been very frustrating,” Burke said. “We’re probably in around the $75,000 mark and growing because we’re still not able to put the machines back.”
A thief seen on a school campus in Santa Clarita as he uses a pickaxe to break into vending machines (Lisa Burke) 
A man suspected of using a pickaxe to steal money from several vending machines at school campuses in Santa Clarita. (Lisa Burke) 
A thief seen on a school campus in Santa Clarita as he uses a pickaxe to break into vending machines (Lisa Burke) 
Damage to vending machines owned by Santa Clarita Concessions on school campus in Santa Clarita. (Lisa Burke) 
Damage to vending machines owned by Santa Clarita Concessions on school campus in Santa Clarita. (Lisa Burke) 
Damage to vending machines owned by Santa Clarita Concessions on school campus in Santa Clarita. (Lisa Burke)
The Assistant Superintendent of Business Services at the William Hart Union High School District told KTLA that they are aware of at least six incidents of vending machine vandalism in just the past two weeks at several of their campuses.
While the district official did not want to specify which campuses had been hit, Burke named West Ranch High School and Sierra Vista Junior High among others.
The district told KTLA that the person or persons vandalizing the machines are targeting the schools when they are not in session.
Detectives with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department are investigating the incidents, but so far, no suspects have been identified.
“We’ve been in business…my dad started it in 1955 and we’ve never experienced something like this in all of our years there, especially in Santa Clarita,” Burke said.
Now, Burke says she wants the person or persons responsible for the vandalism to be held accountable.
“At the end of the day, it’s not just that it’s a vending machine, it’s the fact that this has almost become the norm,” she said.
Left unsolved, Burke added that is the type of crime that could ultimately put her out of business.
Anyone with any information about the vandalism and destruction of the machines is encouraged to contact the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.
