Local business fights competition and thieves

CLEVELAND - When the office worker who normally opens up Pyramid Plastics on Reno Avenue in Cleveland came to work Monday morning, she had a bad feeling.

"She was afraid to come in," said owner Mike Dezort.  "We said no way that somebody would be bold enough to come in three weeks in a row and they did."

Yes for the last three Sundays thieves have broken into the manufacturer of plastic parts and stole whatever tools and metal products they could get their hands on.

For the third Monday in a row the plant was quiet as replacement tools were gathered and new locks and lights were purchased.

Most of the windows around the plant on Reno Avenue off E. 93rd Street are covered with bars or metal screens but the thieves are still finding ways in somehow fitting this time through an unprotected window that was only about 6 inches wide and two feet high.

What's difficult is some of the parts they're stealing are one of a kind and vital to the plant's production.  "You can see the work on this," said Dezort showing off a $5,000 mold for a plastic product.  "This is something that's made to be used specifically for one function and they're looking at it as 'well it weighs 5 pounds, I can get $10 fot it.'"

"If they continue to steal mold bases I'm out of buisness, I just don't have the money to retool," he said.  "I'm going to be losing customers in the short term."

He says police have been cooperative and have collected evidence but his attempts to reach his councilperson have gone unanswered.  "I get frustrated when you try and reach out to officials and you can't.  No email works, no reply on it, there's never an answer if you called the phone it would be nice if someone would pick up."

Pyramid borders two Cleveland council districts and Monday night Newsnet5 put Dezort in contact with the other council person Zack Reed.

"I told him that first of all we should been more responsive to his needs seeing as he got broken into three times," said Reed who also put him in contact with the police commander of the Fourth District.

"There should be no reason in the world why we should not be able to address this situation ASAP," he said.

Dezort says he wants to stay in Cleveland but he also wants to stay in business and when he constantly has to replace parts and buy new locks and bars he's not sure how long he can do both. 

"I look at the numbers that we spent today $600 would bring an employee here for two weeks and I sure could use a machine operator."