A thief slipped into Nancy’s Kitchen Kafe on Saturday, Jan. 27, shortly after closing and stole a small amount of money from the register.
Owner Nancy Morehouse said neither she nor her longtime friend and employee were injured in the incident.
“I’ve never looked at people as evil, but now I’ll be a lot more reserved and on guard,” Morehouse said in a Facebook post the night of the robbery. “We hope no one else in town was robbed but please be aware. We’ll be much more careful in what we say and do from now on.”
Plainwell Department of Public Safety Director Bill Bomar said a detective, dispatched to the restaurant at 615 E. Bridge St. at 2:45 p.m., has followed up on a lead and the investigation is ongoing.
Morehouse described on Facebook the woman her employee saw as “a slight-built African American around 5’ 4” tall. Not old but (my employee) couldn’t really guess her age. We didn’t see a gun. She had her hair covered in a scarf... That’s about all we saw.”
Bomar said Morehouse had reported seeing the suspect pull into the parking lot in a mid-sized, white car and check to see if Plainwell Ice Cream was open. A short time later, Bomar said, Morehouse’s employee had spotted the same woman exiting the restaurant and informed her it was closed. Then they noticed all the money was missing from the register, though money in a nearby tip jar had not been taken.
Bomar said the investigation had turned up some security video footage of the suspect as she entered the nearby Old Mill Brewpub and another witness had seen her approach Energy Mill, across the street.
Morehouse said Tuesday, “The Plainwell police were at the Kitchen in less than 5 minutes after I called 911. Since then I have been contacted by them by phone. The city has reached out several times also, so I feel this is being taken care of on that front.
“On my front, I’m having cameras installed and we will have other preventive measures in place ASAP.
“Anyone who knows me as a wife, mom, grandmother and business woman and member of a strong family and community knows this won’t keep me from living my life the way I feel is appropriate.”
She opened the restaurant in 2006 with the idea to prepare home-cooked, affordable meals.
Morehouse thanked everyone for their words of support online and for helping generate leads for the police. She said she will prosecute the larceny, taking it to court if necessary.
“My Dad always said ‘If you feed a stray dog, it’s yours.’ I didn’t feed her; she stole from me,” she said. “I won’t continue to leave open my door to more strays. I’ve learned from this experience and hope everybody else has, too.”
Contact Ryan Lewis at rmlewis@allegannews.com or (269) 673-5534.
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