Seattle dental office broken into 3 times in one night, owner says

SEATTLE — A Seattle dental office was broken into three separate times in a span of a few hours, the owner said.

The next-door apartment was also allegedly broken into by the same suspects during the same night.

KIRO 7 News spoke with Stephanie Mendoza, operations manager of South Lake Union Dentist Office, who said the small business lost around $3,000 worth of items in three separate break-ins Sunday, just before 10 p.m.

The break-ins were captured on surveillance video.

Mendoza said at least four people stole a safe, three laptops, three Sonicare toothbrushes and Mendoza’s iPad.

After logging into her iCloud account, she said she was able to track her electronic device back to Lynnwood.

“I still see where it’s at. It’s been at the same location for the past couple of days,” she said. “That area is pretty sketchy where it’s at and I don’t want to put myself in danger.”

Mendoza said a police report has been filed.

Seattle Police confirmed the incident with KIRO 7.

Stephanie Pedersen, the owner, said this is not the first time her business was broken into.

“It just feels very violating and invasive. We work hard for what we earn and then to have somebody to so brazenly take that, it makes it difficult to thrive and survive in Seattle when we’re working hard and this happens and we get set back to square one, especially with school loans, business loans, all sorts of bills and payments,” she said.

Mendoza said the suspects broke into the business from the backdoor. However, the building next door was also broken into, she added while she showed us the wired gate that the suspects allegedly cut through to get inside Fox & Finch Apartments.

“They cut this bar open and then they were able to reach in and open this door,” she explained.

The property manager, who did not want to go on camera, confirmed with KIRO 7 News that the 49-unit apartment building was broken into Sunday night.

The suspects were able to break a key lock box and use a key to gain access to the entire building, the property manager added.

“They had the key fob, so they were able to open the garage. A car pulled in,” said Mendoza.

Surveillance video also captured the break-in inside the apartment, showing the accused suspects driving off inside a vehicle that was parked inside a garage located near the back of the building.

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