The BUrglary
I don’t know if this will help anyone but if you are in Southern Florida you need to beware. This is how the burglary was pulled off.
On Friday, I was really late getting to the shop. Normally if I am not there by 3:30 PM, I am not coming in. That is the pattern everyone (2 people) who have worked with me know. I didn’t get in until 4 because I had Internet work to do. At least one person was in the shop when I came in and had run upstairs with a T-shirt, one alcohol lamp and the 6 inch obsidium scrying mirror. Someone, out back of the building, threw something or shot the upstairs window out to get me to come upstairs while the other one ran out the door and down the stairs. We have the stairs blocked off with a chain because the stairs at the bottom are not nailed down. They must have pitched forward and fell through the chain knocking a plant over which caused me to go out the front the door as I wasn’t even thinking about checking the upstairs. I thought the cats had broken something in the showroom. Since they had no time, they knocked all the plastic chairs down getting around the side of the building.
Act 2. They waited until after 6 PM on Saturday when I normally close to begin the break in, probably until 6:30. They had one kid on a bike watching my house. They used at least one kid to go into the window they had unscrewed the Hurricane shutter on and broke the window. They knew exactly which window to break to get a straight shot out the door of the room which was totally piled 4 feet high with boxes and tents from the show. Only someone who has worked with me would know the layout of that side of the building (it is kept closed) and the ex-owner. He died on Friday on Georgia so I doubt he was breaking in. The person was then helped into the room. He was to see if all was empty in the shop, attack the cats and get them out of the way and turn the lights on. He removed the money from the register, removed the keys, locking the drawer and the register and left them nicely sitting on the counter and neatly unplugging the register. Then the kid was probably brought in to help with the running back and forth or he stayed in the room. The thief took the merchandise out of the cases, wrapped it carefully in T-shirts and handed it out the kid who passed it out the window and that person then ran it a few feet over to a concrete patio area the previous owner has behind his trailers behind the building. Believe me, the Diva isn’t going to step into high grass. The kid probably never got any further than the hallway where he grabbed George’s sword and a cross-bow. After that, he was probably reprimanded because the one doing the running stashed those two items under a landscaping cart in the next lot. Mostly likely using cell phones, they then “shopped” knowing exactly what they wanted and exactly where to find it. The two expensive pentacle pendants are in plain cotton bags and look like junk to someone who doesn’t know what is in the bags. Every decorative box in the store was opened to see what was in it for some reason. He may have had them looking for the register keys to throw them off. Every item that was taken is something these two psychics have at one time or the other ooohed and awed over but couldn’t afford.
Then, came the shock. We hadn’t been there that day and were just arriving at 7 – 7:15. The kid peddled back to the shop and dropped his bike off to warn them. Because we stopped in the road because a black/blue truck with dark tinted windows was sitting in the road with its lights on and windows rolled about three inches down with people peeking out. They kept waving us to go by and we were staying put. That’s when he must handed the register off to the kids as payment, but we had the truck cornered that was supposed to pick them up. I am certain there was another white truck/van/small SUV parked out back with the merchandise in it. It probably is what came up behind us forcing us to then go down the street. The black/blue truck had a Confederate flag decal on the drive’s back window and a decal on the passenger’s side black window reading Deko something 561-233 – It would not come past us so I could get the license plate. We turned the corner to get water at the machine and the truck floored it and tore down the road, but they must have called the others and said we were going to circle back around the block. The kids must have been picked up in the vehicle that was already behind the building because it did not follow us out to 441, leaving the bike behind.
Today George found the sword and cross-bow stashed under the landscaping cart in the back on the lot next door. I found the little knight in armor under some bushes two lots away, plus part of the register where they were trying to get it open. They will have to break the drawer and then they will find only change because I know those two are not going to let money get away from them. If the kids were local, they would have come back for the sword and cross bow and the bike. The police will be able to trace the kids because we have beautiful sets of fingerprints and the serial number on the bike which was registered at sale to someone. All they have to do is go through the sales records for the three counties and then Florida which will take a little time. The kids will give up the two or three adults because they have lost everything they were supposed to get from the heist.
However the fact that they had planned a leisurely evening of “shopping” is what really galls me. My birthday is today and every year for eight years these two people have worked to ruin it. I will come to the shop and find the outside vandalized every year at this time, but this year they have crossed the line. I will gradually send out pictures of all the merchandise, as being on the net, the photos have been filed waiting me to get them up. If any of it shows up at your shop, call 954-753-5050, Dept. Serralles case number DS08-03-00159 from March 1, 2008. I may have the number wrong because this guy has worst handwriting than I do. Or, if they are there in purpose, 911 might be a better choice.
Oh, and just to make sure I knew it wasn’t just a burglary, they smashed the windshield of my station wagon, ignoring George’s car, with the same rock the back window of my car was smashed with in June and left it on the hood to make certain I saw it. I know who did this. I will tell you have a grudge against several shops in South Florida and now that they think they are real smart, you may be next.