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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Video shared with News4JAX shows a man breaking into a dry cleaner in Panama Park.
Owners of the small business said it is the second time the store has been burglarized.
The owners filed a report with the police but they are worried that won’t be enough.
People at the cleaners said multiple stores in the shopping plaza were broken into over the last 20 days. It’s unclear if those were reported.
News4JAX checked the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office crime map and the burglary at the dry cleaner matches the date and time.
The first break-in was on Nov. 1.
On surveillance video, a man can be seen digging through the drawers of Star Brite Cleaners. He stuffs his pockets and then walks away, but his face is obscured. It happened around 4 a.m.
An employee who works at the cleaner keeps coming to work knowing he is still out there.
There was another break-in on Sunday, it’s unclear if it’s the same guy, but she’s even more on edge.
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“It makes you uncomfortable, you know the level of not being secure,” the employee said.
The thief tried to get in from all angles. The first was through a glass door. Then the most recent, on Monday, they say he threw a brick through a window that’s now boarded up. It was all caught on surveillance.
He looked right into the camera. The store posted pictures of his face on the counter and the outside walls hoping customers can identify him or that the pictures will run him off.
“We see you,” the employee said. “We see you, you know, so go do something that’s constructive with your life.”
If it is the same man, she thinks he’s bold to do the same thing twice and hopes the police catch him before it’s done again.
The employee said about $400 was taken in the two burglaries.
The owner of the cleaners says it’s going to cost a lot more money to make repairs and enhance their security.
