Thieves target sports bar in San Jose’s Willow Glen, causing more than $20,000 worth of damage

A South Bay bar’s kickoff to the NFL season isn’t going as planned after an early morning break-in caused thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to the property.

The Office in San Jose’s Willow Glen neighborhood is a popular destination to watch NFL football.

“It’s like ‘Cheers’ for Willow Glen, I would say. Everybody knows each other here,” said bar owner Keon Vossoughi.

But as 49ers fans took a seat at the bar to enjoy Monday night’s game, repairs were taking place following an early morning break-in, with burglars stealing roughly $1,000 and causing more than $20,000 worth of damage.

It’s not exactly the way Vossoughi wanted to kick off the NFL season.

“Violated. Honesty, I feel like someone ransacked my house. This is my business, This is my livelihood,” he said.

According to San Jose police, the suspects broke into the business just before 4 a.m. Monday morning.

Surveillance video showed the suspects inside the bar while their faces were covered and one of them wearing a “security” shirt. Video showed the suspects searching for items behind the bar before going into another room, where they locate and steal a safe, removing it from the bar and driving away from the scene.

For regular customers, they feel the incident is a sign of the times.

“To be perfectly honest, it’s happening all over the place nowadays. I don’t know how we can get a handle of it. Maybe we need to police ourselves,” said customer Luke Glaros.

For Vossoughi, he sees it as a momentary setback. He plans to upgrade building security with license plate readers and more cameras.

Police are still looking for the suspects. Anyone with any information to help with the case, is urged to contact San Jose police.