Burglar breaks through wall, takes $5K from cell phone store - East Idaho News
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Burglar breaks through wall, takes $5K from cell phone store

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Editors Note: The original article stated that Store Manager Enrique Banos was in the store at the time of the incident. This information was not correct. No employees were inside the store during the burglary. The article also stated the Idaho Falls Police Department had a suspect. They do not have a suspect as this time.

IDAHO FALLS — Managers at a local cell phone store say $5,000 is missing after a break-in Monday morning.

Idaho Falls Police are investigating a burglary at the Cricket Wireless store at 421 South Utah Avenue. The incident happened around 9 a.m., about an hour before the store opened to customers.

Store manager Enrique Banos says he was not in the store when the alarm went off, and that he came to work at his scheduled time, 9:30 a.m. Banos discovered the burglar knocked a hole into the wall of the store’s back room through a vacant building space next door.

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Cricket Wireless on Utah Avenue. | Natalia Hepworth, EastIdahoNews.com

“I noticed that the safe was on the floor, and there was some drywall on the floor. That’s when I realized that there was a hole in the wall from the other side underneath my desk,” Banos says.

He says police had already been alerted to suspicious activity in the area and were nearby.

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Surveillance footage of the burglar.

The store had two safes, one small and one large, both containing $2,500. The burglar was able to break into the small safe and retrieve the cash inside, and then hauled the large safe off through the back door, Banos says.

He says police were given video footage from the nearby Jamba Juice and the Sprint store as well. See the video above to see some of the footage.

IFPD spokeswoman Jessica Clements says police do not have a suspect at this time. EastIdahoNews.com will update as we receive more information.

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