3 South Philly restaurants burgled

Police are investigating a spate of cash register burglaries that targeted three South Philadelphia restaurants.

Early Tuesday morning, police responded to an alarm about 3:15 a.m. at Le Virtu, one of the city's most celebrated Italian eateries. Officers found an empty cash register lying on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant on the 1900 block of East Passyunk Ave. The front door lock had been forced open. A manager later reported that $100 had been in the cash drawer, police said.

About six hours later, officers were called to the 1900 block of East Passyunk again. The owner of the café Fuel said when he arrived to open the restaurant at 7:30 a.m. he found the front door pried open and the cash register missing. The burglar got away with about $150, police said.

Seven blocks away, another set of officers had been called to the 2600 block of South Broad Street about 5:30 a.m. for a report of a burglary in progress. On arrival, the officers found the front door of Johnny Chang's broken. The restaurant's owner later reported that about $200 had been stolen from the register.