That night, the News and Observer reported, an employee of the store called 911 to report that three men had entered the store with semi-automatic weapons and ordered workers into the stockroom. One of them was carrying a cardboard box, officers learned, which he used to load up mobile phones and smart watches.
The men also filled two crates with merchandise, which totaled more than $26,000. When the robbers left through the back door, they took the crates with them, but forgot the cardboard box which, serendipitously, sported a shipping label with an address on it.
Police used the address, along with a mug shot from a previous crime that matched an image in the store's surveillance video, to track down Brian Lamonte Clark, 22, and arrest him for robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery. [Raleigh News and Observer, 11/30/2018]
• The Lucardo Escape Rooms in Manchester, England, were the site of a misguided break-in on Nov. 29 when two thieves ransacked a fake bank vault as if it were the real thing.
The Manchester Evening News reported that more than 50 surveillance cameras captured the duo's antics as they broke into fake safes and opened drawers that held only puzzles.
"They must be Manchester's stupidest burglars," said Lucardo director Ian Pownall, 26.
The business lost about 100 pounds in cash, but damage amounted to about 1,000 pounds -- not to mention lost revenue while the business cleans up.
"We're a small, family-owned business, so even a couple of thousand pounds will have an effect on us, particularly before Christmas," Pownall said. [Manchester Evening News, 11/29/2018]
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