SYRACUSE --
Cleanup is underway at Markowitz Florists on South Warren Street after a woman allegedly drove through the front of the building and then burglarized it overnight.
Owner Jini Cerio says she received a phone call from police early Friday morning, and they told her someone witnessed another person driving through the front of the flower shop around 3:00 a.m.
Police told CNY Central Friday afternoon that they have arrested 44-year-old Dawn Dunlap of East Division Street in connection with the incident.
Police have charged Dunlap with four counts of burglary, one count of attempted burglary, five counts of criminal mischief, and four counts of petit larceny after they say she is responsible for Friday's incident as well as three others at the Downtown YMCA and an earlier attempt at the same florist on Tuesday.
Cerio says the person responsible crawled through the space made by the car, and a small amount of cash was taken from the register.
"I saw my two front doors smashed. The glass was totally broken out of it, and the frames of the doors were all smashed in," says Cerio.
No merchandise was stolen. Cerio says she has surveillance cameras that caught the break-in on video. Cerio says crews are repairing the front of the shop and putting on new doors.
Other business owners on the street say they have also been the victims of crime.
Next door, Dazzling Diamonds Jewelry has a lot of security measures in place, but recently, a man came in and ran off with a watch.
"It is very scary and very stressful," says store owner Urszula Marschall.
The owner of Red Rose Diner on South Warren St., Hana Mouschntaf, says her restaurant has been burglarized, and she lost more than $1,000.
"We feel like we are not secure," says Mouschntaf. "Every day, I come here and say, 'Have I been robbed or not?'"
Syracuse police say they're staying vigilant about the situation, and they do patrol the area. They stress they have made an arrest in the most recent flower shop burglary, and other arrests have been made over time related to crimes downtown.
