Business & Tech

Pizzeria in Hazlet Hit By Early Morning Smash & Grab

The suspect broke the glass entrance door and went right to the cash register, police said.

Sometime around 5:30 Thursday morning, a man wearing a dark hoodie smashed through the glass door entrance to Hazlet My Pizza, next to Toys R Us on Route 35 North, and made off with the day's starting cash from the cash register. 

Ten minutes after it happened, a parking lot sweeper saw the shards of broken glass on the sidewalk and called Hazlet Police. The incident was captured by the pizzeria's two surveillance cameras. Hazlet Police Det. Lt. Charles McBride said investigators are reviewing the tape.

But the break-in left pizzeria owner Val Fishta puzzled because the sun was coming up, and the nearby bagel, bakery and gas station are open at that early hour. 

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"And they left this," he said, gesturing to his collection of good luck money, about $50 worth of cash, taped to the wall in plain sight. "If it's someone who knows you, they would take that. There was less money in the register." 

Fishta has been running Hazlet My Pizza, which was long called Hazlet Pizza, for nearly two years. People come from far away for his "Grandma Pizza," made with very thin crust, and other favorites, like the pizza with vodka sauce and the buffalo chicken pie.

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The Staten Island native said he felt stunned to be targeted. "I like this town. The people are very calm, very respectful. I didn't expect this to happen here. Maybe like, in the bad parts of Brooklyn or something, but not here."  


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