Ice cream shop offers 1,000-cone reward to help catch vandals in San Francisco

Fed up after vandals hit his San Francisco shop for the second time in just over a year, owner Juan San Mames has put up a $2,000 reward for information, KGO reports.

Or the tipster can claim a more offbeat reward from Xanath Ice Cream in the Mission District, according to the station.

“You can bring all your friends and we’ll do 1,000 ice cream cones and we’ll have a big party when we get them,” San Mames said, KGO reported.

In September, a man caught on video etched the shop’s windows with some kind of acid-tipped pen, KRON reported. He also filled the front door lock with glue.

A similar incident, in which three men damaged windows with some kind of acid, took place in August 2018, Mission Local reported.

“We are not Starbucks — we are a mom-and-pop operation,” San Mames said, according to the publication. “It’s just mean and it’s sad.”

San Mames has had to cover part of the window with paper to conceal vulgar words etched by the vandals, KRON reported.

“Very angry because you know it’s very expensive,” said Rosamaria Mames, who helps run the shop, according to the station. “It looks very ugly.”

San Mames will try to have the windows cleaned, but if that fails he’ll have to replace them at a cost of up to $5,000, KGO reported.

He posted surveillance video of the most recent vandalism, which took place at about 1 a.m. Sept. 23, to YouTube. The three earlier vandals also were caught on video.

“There are four cameras, but they’re bold, they just don’t care,” San Manes said, Mission Local reported. “They’re just going at it.”

This story was originally published November 19, 2019 at 9:34 AM with the headline "Ice cream shop offers 1,000-cone reward to help catch vandals in San Francisco."