Crime & Safety

UPDATE: Police launch active investigation into Aqus Cafe vandalism

Anyone with information asked to call Petaluma Police.

Petaluma police said Saturday they are actively seeking information on who might have vandalized the Aqus Cafe.

Petaluma Police Cpl. Nick McGowan said that Petaluma Officer Dustin Rodrigues is heading the probe into the incident, which took place sometime overnight Thursday.

"I can't comment because it's an active investigation," McGowan said Saturday in response to whether there were any leads. "Our report is not yet complete."

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Anyone with information is asked to call police at 707-778-4372, McGowan said.

Police are looking into a report from employees, who said they came to work Friday morning to find a window that had been smashed with a rock and broken eggs covering the side of the window.

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"It was a mess," said Lesley McCullaugh, one of the owners of the cafe. "We had to powerwash it."

McCullaugh said she believed the vandalism was the result of a confrontation she had with a customer Thursday.

"A guy came in and was complaining about everything," she said. "He didn't like the service, the prices...We don't know for sure if it was him, but I am 99 percent sure that it was. It's just too much of a coincidence."

Repeated calls to the Petaluma Police Department went unanswered Friday afternoon and it is not known if an arrest has been made.

McCullaugh described the suspect as "30ish," with blond hair, glasses and facial stuble. He was also wearing a baseball cap.

"He just came in with a bad attitude," she said. "And when I said I would call the police, he said 'Go ahead, my dad is a police officer.'" The man also took money out of the tip jar, although he later put it back. He was also filming the incident and threatened to put it on YouTube, McCullaugh said.

Healdsburg Patch Editor Keri Brenner contributed to this report.


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