OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Two cell phone stores suffered thousands of dollars in damage and stolen property after break-ins.
Officer John Lacy said they’re hoping to identify the thieves before it becomes a trend.
On Aug. 30, the Boost Mobile Store in the 7600 block of Metcalf was robbed early in the morning.
Josef Jarrah works at the store and said they are now looking to make up for thousands of dollars because of damages and stolen devices.
“Even this type of business, we are not making this much money,” Jarrah said. “For some loser to come in and break into your store, steal $20,000, you need a whole couple of years to make up for that.”
Just days after that incident, on Sept. 10, another robbery happened at a different cell phone store. Police say four men stole several cell phones at the AT&T store in the 9100 block of Metcalf.
“These people are moving in from store to store, breaking in, damaging people's property, damaging people's life,” Jarrah said.
Officer Lacy said it’s unclear what these robbers’ motives are.
“First of all I'm like how are they going to activate these cell phones? Are they going to play Bejeweled? Are they going to play games on it like Tetris?" Lacy said. “There's nothing they can do with these phones. And if they try to sell them, there's a serial number on these phones. And if we find out who has these phones, we're looking to charge them.”
Jarrah said while employees will be adding more security, this recent robbery is now on the forefront of his mind.
“Going home and thinking, ‘oh somebody's going to break in, I gotta bring more security, I gotta cover the windows’, I mean, that's too much,” he said.
If you have any information on who the thieves may be in either of the robberies, you're asked to call Overland Park Police.
Before buying a cell phone from a third party, be sure to check the serial number to make sure it wasn't stolen.
