Burglars target 8 Port Richey businesses in 26 minutes
PORT RICHEY (FOX 13) - In a span of 26 minutes, Pasco deputies say two suspects burglarized eight different businesses early Thursday morning.
Most of the victimized businesses are located on Little Road, near the intersection of Ridge Road. Another two occurred on State Road 54. Surveillance video caught one of the suspects in the act at three of the places burglarized.
At Ice Cream Palace off Little Road, a suspect dressed in a dark hooded sweatshirt is seen shaking the cash registers and ultimately, finding nothing. As he made his way out, he takes a drink from the cooler before escaping in a silver Kia.
Also on Little Road, that same suspect smashed the front door of a Jersey Mike's with a crowbar. He's looked for a way in, but couldn't. He went to the window, and still couldn't get into the restaurant.
"It looks like there was an attempt of breaking in other businesses, but because those businesses had the laminate on the windows, they were unable to do that," said Amy Marinec, spokesperson for the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.
At another Jersey Mike's on State Road 54, the same suspect -- even with some help, it appeared -- cannot break in.
"There are businesses next to these businesses that were broken into that have a glass laminate on them," said Marinec. "It's almost an auto-theft prevention technique that businesses are doing now. It's like a film to put up on the window that they can't smash through."
The sheriff's office posted the three videos in hopes of tracking down the two burglars, and are optimistic they'll make an arrest soon.
"Anytime that we have somebody like this, it's a pretty decent video, people in the area, it's a series of businesses that were affected, people talk, the community supports each other," said Marinec. "Oftentimes, when we put tips like this on social media, with video like this, we end up catching the suspect pretty quickly."
If you have any information on this string of burglaries, you're asked to contact the Pasco County Sheriff's Office. You can leave information with their tip line, https://pascosheriff.com/tips or contact Detective Birge at ext. 3527.
A list of all the businesses hit:
- Jersey Mikes and Hot Headz Hair Salon (10829 SR 54)
- Great Clips (8655 Little Rd)
- Oasis Nails (86 Little Rd)
- Ice Cream Palace (8641 Little Rd)
- AT&T (8261 Little Rd)
- Sports Clips (8265 Little Rd)
- Jersey Mikes (8263 Little Rd)