| Updated: 6/30/2009 3:07 pm |
Published: 6/26/2009 4:19 pm |
Arkansas State Police say a series of discount store burglaries now spreads to a total of four states. It's the latest development in a string of crimes where burglars break-in, in some cases smash in, and go right for the safe.
New surveillance videos and photos released Friday show a shot of the suspect’s face partially he's part of a group of bandits targeting discount stores, not just in central Arkansas, but throughout the Mid South.
FOX16 News showed you this crook creeping around on the floor of an Arkadelphia Dollar General store earlier this month. State police believe he's part of a team of at least two burglars going for the safe inside the store.
The entire state is a target with 18 Dollar General locations hit from Rogers to Jonesboro, Mt. Ida to Monticello. State police say Dollar Tree stores are also targeted, but as of late Friday, didn’t know how many.
"They're going to get caught,” shopper Dorothy Balch says. “I can't understand people, why they don't think they're going to get caught."
FOX16 talked to shoppers at the Dollar General in the 15,000 block of MacArthur Drive near Maumelle. It was targeted in the overnight hours of June 14/15. The next morning, employees figured out something was wrong when the phone lines were dead and went looking to find out why.
When they walked around to the back side of the building they found a giant hole in the wall. It's since been fixed but it's big enough for just about any crook to try and climb through. However, in this case, the bandits didn't get anything.
"That's crazy,” says Gerald Gubanski. “I don't know if the economy is getting that bad where people want to break in to the stores."
The surveillance video is perhaps the best evidence detectives have. They're hoping someone will get a look at the burglars and be able to say who these masked bandits are and get him off the street.
Police are investigating similar robberies in Louisiana, Tennessee, and Mississippi. More than a dozen law enforcement agencies across Arkansas are working together with state police to try and crack the case.
