TAUNTON — Carlos and Isabel Cordeiro thought things couldn't get any worse than when they were robbed at gunpoint in September at their neighborhood variety store in Weir Village.
It has gotten worse.
Less than a week after the Cordeiros attended a neighborhood crime watch meeting aimed at battling the wave of break-ins in Taunton, their store, Mercado Novo at 283 Somerset Ave., was broken into.
The burglar broke in late Tuesday night, stealing $150 in coins, but a surveillance camera installed after the holdup got pictures of the burglar.
Isabel Cordeiro said she discovered the break when she opened the store Wednesday at 7 a.m.
“It's unbelievable,” Isabel Cordeiro said Thursday as her husband worked in the back of the store.
The family is still reeling from the armed robbery last September, when the bandit put a gun to the head of their 17-year-old daughter, Melanie.
“She's still scared,” Isabel Cordeiro said.
After the holdup, they installed a video-surveillance camera, which showed the burglar breaking into the store about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The video showed him using a flashlight to check areas around the counter of the store. The burglar appeared to be a white male and he was wearing a hooded jacket and baseball cap.
The camera also picked up his face. Detectives retrieved the videotape.
The burglar broke in by smashing through a wooden panel at the rear of the store where Carlos Cordeiro is doing construction.
The burglar managed to slip through an opening that was about 8 by 14 inches.
“He must have been pretty skinny,” she said. “They want money for drugs.”
The robberies have left the hard-working family frustrated, angry and worried.
Isabel said she is now suspicious of every customer who comes in who is not one of her regulars.
She said the neighborhood has changed and she has witnessed drug activity in the area.
She said there were people smoking drugs in a car in the parking lot Wednesday afternoon. They left when she went out.
“They are all around here. You have to be careful,” Cordeiro said.
The family has owned the store across from Annunciation of the Lord Church for the three years, selling a wide variety of items and specializing in Portuguese meats and foods.
The couple's other daughter, Elizabeth, 22, also works at the store.
Mercado Novo wasn't the only store in the area hit this week.
Less than a mile away, Robert and Lillian Mendes, longtime owners of Lopes Variety at 479 Somerset Ave., were assessing the damage to their store on Thursday.
“It's getting bad,” said Lillian Mendes, who has worked at the store for 54 years.
“It's really sad,” said her husband, Robert.
About midnight Wednesday someone tried to break into the store by smashing the window on the door, which triggered the alarm and woke up the couple who live next door.
A police officer on patrol on nearby Fifth Street spotted the burglar and gave chase.
Police surrounded the area, and police dogs were called in for the search, but the burglar escaped.
“Police worked hard for at least an hour searching,” Robert Mendes said.
The Cordeiros were among the Weir residents and business owners who attended a neighborhood meeting Nov. 6 at Memorial United Methodist Church aimed at fighting the wave of break-ins.
The church was broken into a few weeks ago and ransacked.
Since Oct. 1, there have been more than 90 break-ins citywide, including 30 in the Weir and downtown area.
Police have arrested several people in connection with the break-ins.
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