A burglary in Frenchtown Christmas day was solved by New Years. And the action played out in news updates over the few days it took to get one suspect in custody and identify the other.
It starts with a report on Christmas of a pharmacy break-in. The thieves cut power to Frenchtown Drug, and although the alarms were triggered anyhow, the burglars got away. They left a mess of pill bottles behind and police are not sure what exactly was taken. The assumption was that the thieves were after drugs.
Then, a follow-up report on December 27th gave us a picture, taken by a surveillance camera, of one of the suspects police were seeking. The blurry picture showed a man in a hooded jacket. Another had the car the perpetrators were driving. Apparently, even with no power to the building, the video cameras were still working. Police asked for the public’s help in identifying the suspects.
Finally, on December 29th, state police realized they knew at least one of the people they were seeking. Why? An officer recognized the car in the surveillance tape as the same one Highway Patrol had investigated in an accident that took place two days before. Reviewing the video from the police car dash cam, the suspect appeared wearing the same clothing as in the pharmacy break-in video. The car also matched. Now the police had one of the perpetrators.
After a quick arrest, the young man, whose identity is being withheld, rolled over on his female partner. Case closed. Well, not entirely. The case is listed as still under investigation while police tie up loose ends.
Still, it’s an amazingly efficient system. And, with a little bit of luck, two bad guys are off the streets for awhile.
