Smash & Grab Burglar Hits Hialeah Radio Shack
HIALEAH (CBSMiami) – A masked burglar used a minivan to break into a Hialeah Radio Shack store.
Surveillance video from the store, at 2750 W 68th Street, shows the driver of the white van back over the parking stops and smash through the glass store front. Wearing socks on his hands, the man then stumbled around the store, stole merchandise off the shelves and stuffed it into a plastic bag.
At one point, he even went to the unlocked stock room and kicked in the door.
The surveillance tape shows he was in the store for about four minutes before getting back in the van and driving off.
Neighboring business owners and employees said this was not the first time someone has smashed through their glass fronts to steal from them.
Maria Valentin, who works in the travel agency next to the Radio Shack, came to work to find that the impact of driving a van into the store's front had also shattered a window on her business.
Joselynn Torres, who also works for Trans Eagle Travel, was disgusted by what had happened.
"The need to work instead of coming in and messing up people's businesses because we work for the money, why can't they do it," said Torres.
Valentin and others in the strip shopping center have shutters protecting their storefronts. They told CBS4's Natalia Zea they were tired of Radio Shack being a target for crooks because they don't have shutters. They said the store has been burglarized at least twice in the last two years by people using something to smash the glass so they can steal the merchandise.
Torres didn't think it was an accident that the store was burglarized on Valentine's Day.
"(They) want to get new phones for their girlfriends or boyfriends," she said with a laugh.
