Lemon Tree Tea House burglarized

A Newton business that also serves as a private living space for the owner was broken into and burglarized last week.

Megan Pryke, owner of The Lemon Tree Tea House & Restaurant, walked into her business Wednesday morning and discovered the place was a mess, with obvious signs of a disturbance. Pryke posted a photo of the broken window on Wednesday, June 23 where the unidentified burglar likely entered the building.

“He or she pushed off a number of my china dishes, crystal dishes and they hit the floor and were shattered,” Pryke said. “He or she managed to crawl through there and it would appear he or she systematically went through the house. Doors were open that are usually closed.”

The suspect stole Pryke’s laptop, business iPhone, Amazon Echo, iPad and several pieces of jewelry that had belonged to her grandmother and aunt who had passed away. Pryke said the burglar also trashed her medicine cabinet, searched through her clothing dressers and took her bed apart.

Pryke contacted the Newton Police Department and filed a report. The same day she contacted authorities, the business owner tried tracking down her electronics. She contacted U.S. Cellular and Apple. Unfortunately, the iPhone was shut off so Apple couldn’t trace its whereabouts.

When Pryke contacted U.S. Cellular, she was told the company couldn’t track it for her through the phone number unless they were given a subpoena even though she is the legal phone owner. Pryke said that process could take up to three weeks, which is no good for her.

Business and reservations were temporarily put on hold while Pryke deep cleaned the establishment of broken glass. She also thanked local law enforcement for responding quickly to her call.

“Hopefully they’ll find who did it and I can only keep my fingers crossed that they recover at least some of the items that they stole,” Pryke said. “… I’m just really hoping that we get in touch with someone and they find something be able to recover some of it before it gets taken apart or pawned.”

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com