Thief climbs through air vent, steals cash from Massachusetts Hallmark store
TEWKSBURY - Tewksbury Police are looking for a burglar who went through a lot of effort to break into a popular card store. The very determined thief was captured on surveillance video literally going to new heights to steal cash from the beloved Kay's Hallmark Shop in the middle of the night Sunday.
Suspect captured on video
The video shows him climbing down from the ceiling to get inside. The journey to stealing first started outside, where the manager says the burglar used a dumpster to get on the roof then traveled through the air vents, all the way across the store to the front.
"This store has been here 35 years. I've had other locations as well and nothing like this has never happened," said manager Chintan Gandhi.
Eventually the thief crawled his way to the register where it was cleaned out of cash.
"They stole rolls of pennies, quarters, dimes, they just went for everything they could get their hands on," said Gandhi.
The next morning, another business noticed the store's back door wide open, so they called police. When officers arrived, they checked the building for anything suspicious and found several ceiling tiles missing near the entrance. The cash registers appeared to be tampered with and money was missing.
"It's a holiday store"
The only reason the manager thinks a Grinch would target the cherished store, is because it's after the holidays.
"They really planned it," said Gandhi. "It's a holiday store, they probably thought extra cash on hand it's probably the time to hit it."
And so, no one else gets hits too, they hope someone spots the guy. Police already think he's the same suspect in another breaking and entering incident.
"It's a great community so just surprised it would happen," said Ghandi.
Tewksbury police searched the area but couldn't find the suspect. Police said the suspect was last seen wearing a black hoodie, black pants, black sneakers, two-toned gray work gloves, and a red ski mask.
Anyone with information or anyone who believes they recognize the suspect, is asked to call Tewksbury Police at 978-851-7373. You can also send an anonymous tip.
