ST. GEORGE — An early morning burglary at a local business on Main Street was caught on surveillance footage Saturday.
Shortly after 4:45 a.m. officers responded to a possible burglary in progress at the Gold Old Store on Main Street near the corner of St. George Boulevard after an alarm activation from inside of the store contacted police.
The store’s owner, Melodie Neel, told St. George News that once officers arrived at the store she and her husband were contacted by police and told to “get down to the store because it was broken into.”
The couple arrived to find the front glass entrance door shattered and officers inside of the store. She also said the glass in a number of display cases was broken and the cases appeared to be in disarray and stripped of many items, while other areas appeared to have been ransacked, resulting in $20,000 in damages and loss.
The store was equipped with a security system and the surveillance footage showed a man, wearing a ski mask, hoodie and gloves, break the glass of the front door and when he entered, “he went directly to the display case with the high-end items in it,” Neel said.
“It looked like he knew exactly where he was going as soon as he got in,” she said.
The suspect broke the glass and began grabbing items, including all of the sterling silver chains in assorted lengths and designs, along with two vintage Native American necklaces, several copper rounds, a set of confederate coin replicas, a gold Bavarian T-pot and a number of other items.
When the suspect broke into the case containing the teapot, he destroyed the cups that belonged to the set and left the lid to the teapot sitting inside of the case.
“So he destroyed the set and doesn’t even have the lid,” Neel said.
While watching the surveillance footage, Neel could see only one individual inside the store, but that there may have been an accomplice involved, as she heard the suspect say “we got it,” or something to that effect on the video. However, there was no other indication of a second suspect so they were not able to determine who the man was talking to.
Neel also said the man appears to be loitering near the front of the store for nearly 15 minutes before he finally broke the glass and entered. The footage also showed a number of cars that passed by the front of the store while the suspect was still inside.
Other valuable items were also taken during the break-in, she said, and a full list of the missing inventory was provided to police. The entrance door has been repaired and the store is open for business.
The suspect was about 5-foot-7 and “he looked like he was walking bow-legged,” Neel said.
The investigation into the incident is ongoing and the store is working on providing a copy of the footage to St. George News, at which time the report will be updated.
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