GRESHAM, Ore. — For more than a week now, nearly a dozen businesses in the Gresham area have been hit by the same burglar. Victims said that he got in and out within just minutes, leaving with thousands of dollars in cash and merchandise.
In every break-in the suspect is cool, calm and collected and he doesn’t get spooked by anything, business owners said — not even an alarm going off.
“He breaks the alarm, the system to the front counter, and takes the till out,” said Mary Goff, manager at Bedrooms West. Her store on Northeast Burnside in Gresham was burglarized Monday morning of last week.
The suspect broke in and stole thousands of dollars’ worth of cash and tools. Goff said that the burglary was over in about five minutes.
Not only that, but the thief found the key to a van she depends on to deliver furniture to her customers. After stealing her van, the suspect then drove to iCandy, a shop just minutes away in downtown Gresham.
Sydney Joyner, owner of iCandy, said she got an alert on her phone from the store’s security system that someone was breaking in.
“I saw someone kicking in the door and then I saw them enter in our office doors. I immediately called 911,” Joyner said.
She added that the suspect got in the same way at her shop as he did at some of the other ones, using a crowbar.
The burglar pried through the front door and was able pop open another door in a matter of seconds. From Sydney’s surveillance video, you can see him calmly walking through her candy shop, eventually breaking into her office where he stole a safe with $3,000 inside. All the while, the store's alarm was going off.
In less than five minutes, the suspect was in and out of iCandy and walked back to the van stolen from Bedrooms West. He drove off, just missing responding officers.
That van was later recovered not far from where the first burglary took place on Northeast Burnside. So far police have not managed to arrest a suspect.
Gresham police confirmed Tuesday evening that the suspect in the iCandy and Bedrooms West burglaries, at least, is the same person. Anyone with information about the burglaries is asked to contact Detective Larry Foulke at 503-618-2652.