Owner Of Roseville Sammy's Missing As Business Mysteriously Shuts Down
ROSEVILLE (CBS13) — After a restaurant billed as the centerpiece of Roseville's rebirth mysteriously shut down and its owner went missing, business owners are worried about their own futures.
Stephen Pease was the owner of Sammy's Rock'n Island Bar and Grill, a Sammy Hagar themed restaurant that closed recently.
Pease was last seen at a Las Vegas hotel in late October. He's since been sighted in Fort Bragg, and now police say he could be in Canada. Foul play is not suspected, and police are saying me may not want to be found.
The downtown Roseville business he owned is now closed, leaving employees out of work, and neighboring businesses are waiting to see what happens.
Pease and his business partners opened Sammy's a year ago with a $1.5 million loan from the Roseville Community Development Corporation—a nonprofit created to spur growth downtown.
Repayments on that loan were supposed to start in June. The head of the group wouldn't say how much was still owed on the loan.
CBS13 reached out to Pease's business partners to talk about his abrupt disappearance, but they didn't return our calls.
Marsha Taylor opened her art gallery over the weekend, not knowing that Sammy's was quietly closing its doors.
"It's kind of frustrating, because that's a big draw and one of the reasons I came down here," she said.
She hopes Pease if OK, but also says if Sammy's closes for good, she hopes the business isn't empty for long.
