Someone Is Ripping Off Arcades and Photo Booths Across Portland

Since this spring, someone has been breaking into photo booths, vending machines, and arcade games in bars across Portland and stealing the cash inside.

The amount stolen isn’t much—but it’s causing thousands of dollars in damage to the machines and migraine headaches for the owners.

“It’s a never-ending cycle of idiocy,” says Phil Ragaway, owner of the Hawthorne arcade QuarterWorld. Ragaway has tallied 40 thefts this year and had to replace around $15,000 worth of machines.

He has been around Portland since the 1990s and says he’s never experienced a crime wave like this. What makes the spree particularly irritating is that Ragaway is certain he knows who’s behind it.

Ragaway says he’s caught the same man on video more than a dozen times. He even has selfies. After ripping off a photo booth at Paymaster Lounge, the man paused to take a few photos with the machine. Ragaway passed them around to other bar owners and says the man was not difficult to identify. He’s a regular in bars around town.

“He took his own mug shot,” says Jocelyn Dean, who owns 22 of the booths across the city. Ten of them have been robbed so far this year.

“It’s so infuriating. I have high-resolution pictures,” Dean says. She’s identified photos of him in at least two different thefts.

Taylor Valdés, owner of Venderia, says the man has been stealing cash from her vending machines as well. “It’s been a really big bummer because we can’t do anything about it,” she adds.

For a while, Valdés stopped accepting cash at her machines. Now, she’s slid notes into the cash acceptor warning off would-be thieves. Ragaway, meanwhile, started creating his own custom locks.

Dean filed a police report, and Ragaway forwarded video evidence to the police. But so far, no luck. “The cops won’t do anything,” Ragaway says. “I’ll take care of him myself when I find him.”

The Portland Police Bureau did not immediately respond to a request for comment, although it has said repeatedly in the past that it is short-staffed and has limited ability to investigate property crimes.

Ragaway and Jocelyn have resorted to handing out “Wanted” flyers in bars and around neighborhoods.

The man has not been charged with a crime, so WW is not publishing his name. When reached by phone, the man said it was a case of mistaken identity.

“That’s not me,” he said, and hung up.