MIAMI – In less than a year, burglars have struck
Luna Pasta e Dolci six times, eight if you count the failed burglary attempts. It’s a big blow to a small business that survived the COVID pandemic and has evolved over the years from a small pasta shop to a hotspot restaurant located off Biscayne Boulevard and Northeast 68th Street in Miami. “My idea was to grow, but I didn’t want to move from this block. I want to grow here,” said owner Gabriel Medici. “For our family, everything is around food and it’s actually what I study. I put everything into this world.” The repeat burglaries have prompted residents to get involved in an attempt to help the small business cover expenses through a
GoFundMe page , an effort to make sure the owners don’t move. Medici said for five years, his family never had issues, but from last May to present it’s been one after another. “The first time they broke in, it was like, OK it happens,” said Medici. “The second time, seven days or less, another window. Then we got another third time.” He continued, “We didn’t know what to do, so we called the police and put more alarms and put a system inside and spent money.” A private security guard hasn’t even made a difference in the ongoing issue. It’s a frustrating setback, but the family is pushing forward. Medici and his wife have reported each crime to the authorities, which he said adds more to his point. “Police also feel very frustrated that they are working to put these people in (jail) and they are out in a couple of weeks,” Medici said. “The system is not working.”
