Police link restaurant break-ins

Frank Stephen Zadory Jr., 48, has been charged with three counts of second-degree burglary, fourth-degree burglary, theft over $500, and three counts of malicious destruction of property after break-ins at restaurants in the two areas. Police used video surveillance footage from the restaurants to link Zadory, who was out on parole after being released from prison July 14, to the crimes.

Shortly before 3:30 a.m. on July 22, First District police officers responded to Potomac Pizza and Sub Shop at 9812 Falls Road in Potomac, responding to a tripped alarm. Officers found that the front door glass at the restaurant had been smashed, and discovered a similar scene at the Fortune Garden restaurant next door.

At 2:18 a.m. July 23, Third District police responded to a call reporting a break-in at Cuba de Ayer restaurant on Old Columbia Pike in Burtonsville. Officers there also found the front door glass smashed.

Officers from the police's repeat offenders section tracked down Zadory around 5:30 p.m., Aug. 7, in Langley Park, where he was driving a stolen 2002 Saturn L200. Police determined the car had been stolen in a Third District residential burglary and arrested Zadory. Officer Rodney Barnes, a spokesman for the Montgomery County Police, could not say when the car had been stolen or where specifically it had been stolen from.

According to Montgomery County Circuit Court documents, Zadory pleaded guilty in March of 2006 to second-degree burglary charges.

According to Linda Hu, a cashier at Fortune Garden, there was no cash in the store at the time of the break-in and nothing was stolen. Nothing in the store was destroyed, other than the door, which has since been repaired, she said. "There were no other problems, thank God," Hu said.

However, at Cuba de Ayer restaurant, about $600 dollars was stolen from the restaurants' office, according to co-owner Jessica Rodriguez.

"We're fortunate that no one got hurt," Rodriguez said. "… But there's been quite a few break-ins recently, and it makes us nervous."

Rodriguez said that it was difficult to lose the $600 and cover the costs of repairing the door – about $450, plus $200 for new lettering – in tough economic times when consumers are spending less.

Coupled with the rising cost of food and a series of recent closures for a power outage, the Fourth of July holiday and the water contamination scare in June, the break-in took an especially hard toll, she said. "Things have been tight."

Police say Zadory may be linked to more residential and commercial burglaries in the area, and they are expecting more charges in the case.

"There are additional burglaries that we'll be looking into that we think he may be involved with," Barnes said.

Anyone with information about the break-ins is asked to call the third district investigative section at 301-565-5835.

Zadory is being held at the Montgomery County Detention Center on $150,000 bond.