Martinez police have arrested the city’s alleged martini bar burglar

Martinez police have arrested a suspect days after Bentley’s Container Bar, Martinez’s newest martini and cocktail bar, was burglarized and vandalized.

A little more than 24 hours after Bentley’s Container Bar held its grand opening in downtown Martinez on July 28, someone stole $10,000 worth of tools and vandalized the space – and a neighboring brewery captured the crime on surveillance footage. On Aug. 2, Martinez Police Department arrested a 65-year-old man on suspicion of two felonies relating to grand theft and vandalism, according to Lieutenant Patrick Salamid.

“I can’t think of any recent incident of something like this happening,” he added.

It was a sad conclusion to the Friday night celebration for a new cocktail bar that pays homage to Martinez’s pride as the birthplace of the martini. A little after 1 a.m. on Sunday, July 30, the thief burglarized and vandalized the bar’s outdoor patio and the inside courtyard of the adjoining Market & Main market hall.

In a video recorded by Five Suns Brewing, which they posted on YouTube, surveillance footage shows a man walking back and forth through the bar’s courtyard over the course of about 40 minutes and taking various tools and items.

The alleged thief destroyed plants and menus, cut the water line and Ethernet cable, broke into the inside courtyard and stole thousands of dollars in tools and supplies, according to a GoFundMe campaign set up by one of the owners.

The bar is housed in a converted shipping container and is part of Market & Main, a women-owned market and food hall at 610 Main St. in downtown Martinez , just blocks from the Contra Costa County courthouse and the Martinez police department. Malena Clegg and Krystal Endsley’s public market offers food from merchants including the Shuck It! oyster bar, Out the Dough cookie dough shop, Banh Mi and Rolls and the gourmet Salt & Fig Marketplace.