News Brief: Monday, April 24, 2000

Cinemagic, Eat at Joe's burglarized The Cinemagic movie theater and Eat at Joe's restaurant -- both located in the 3925 Walnut Street complex -- were forcibly entered by one or more individuals sometime between closing time on Saturday night and midday Sunday, according to the University Police log book. A full report of losses was not available as of last night. Since police and Cinemagic management were unable as of yesterday to find an obvious place of entry that the criminal might have used, police speculate that the two break-ins were not separate incidents. "I don't know how they got in the building," Cinemagic manager Mike Scanlon said. "The police theorized that they could have cross-connected through the buildings somehow and only had to break into one. I know that Eat at Joe's' back door was pried open." Scanlon added that the incident likely occurred yesterday sometime between 2:45 a.m. -- the time he locked up for the night -- and 6 a.m., when Eat at Joe's opened for the day's business. "I talked to the manager over there [at Eat at Joe's], and according to her, [the burglars] carted out the safe," Scanlon added. Eat at Joe's officials and Penn Police were unable to be reached for comment last night. The incident was not the first to hit Cinemagic this year. The movie theater was last burglarized this past December by an 18-year-old male who approached theater staff pretending to have a gun. He was later apprehended by police. And in April 1999, the theater was robbed of $1,800 in cash by two men carrying guns and wearing ski masks. Neither of the men was caught. Philadelphia Police Department's Southwest Detectives are investigating the incident. -- Jonathan Margulies