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Owner of previously burglarized day care sees similarities to Mom's House

The Blade - 7/13/2018

July 13--An owner of a central Toledo day care center whose business was burglarized last month said he sees similarities to the situation at Mom's House, the child care center located a half-mile away that was broken into earlier this week.

Steve Eaton, co-owner of Special Kare-N Learning Center, said he and business partner Karen Gordon are in the process of moving from a home day care setup to a commercial one in the 2100 block of Franklin Avenue. Mr. Eaton said his brother arrived at the commercial location on June 13 and discovered a door torn off its hinges and several items stolen, including donated educational tablets, children's cots, and televisions.

News about the Mom's House theft, which staff there report resulted in about $10,000 in losses, makes him think both incidents might be related.

"I'm thinking it's the same person," he said, noting similarities between the two incidents. "The broken door ... they took the same stuff from us."

It is particularly unfortunate, Mr. Eaton said, because both child care centers predominantly serve low-income families. Special Kare-N Learning Center's current home-based location is on the same block as Mom's House and the new site is still scheduled to open in mid-August, Mr. Eaton said.

A copy of a Toledo police report provided by Mr. Eaton shows the break-in was reported June 13, including damage to a metal-framed door and windows as well as the stolen items.

Other units in the same, mostly vacant plaza as Mr. Eaton's business also were subject to attempted break-ins, the report shows. Several units still showed evidence of broken or boarded up windows this week.

Christina Rodriguez, executive director of Mom's House, said she was unaware Mr. Eaton's business had experienced a break-in, but expressed dismay at the news.

She said she is grateful for the outpouring of support this week from donations and local restaurants offering to provide meals to supplement stolen kitchen equipment and food.

"Our community has just been amazing to us," she said.

Lt. Kevan Toney, a Toledo police spokesman, said police have identified a suspect in the Mom's House case but have not yet issued any warrants or made an arrest. The spokesman could not yet say if the two day care break-ins were related, but said police often look at reports in close geographic proximity for a possible link.

Contact Lauren Lindstrom at llindstrom@theblade.com, 419-724-6154, or on Twitter @lelindstrom.

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