Suspects caught with YMCA goods

Man, 68, drowns at Caesar Creek Lake
5/26/12
Water rescues prompt warning from health officials
5/25/12
Beach Waterpark sued for failure to deliver
5/25/12
Raleigh Trammell’s defense opens in felony trial
5/25/12
UD to move satellite campus to Dublin
5/25/12
> More headlines

By Marc Katz, Staff Writer Updated 1:37 PM Wednesday, December 21, 2011

HUBER HEIGHTS — Two burglary suspects were caught early this morning in the parking lot of the Huber Heights YMCA just moments after they broke into the center and tried to use the agency’s van to carry away their loot.

Police said the couple — a male and female whose names have not been released — are accused of stealing laptop computers, iPods, cash, a safe and other items. But it was the YMCA’s director Josh Sullenberger who spotted the woman sitting inside the YMCA van that was also about to be stolen.

“I don’t think they realized we open at 5 a.m.,” said YMCA director Josh Sullenberger, who lives nearby and was called to the building at 4:45 by an employee who had arrived early to open the center. “They probably thought they had plenty of time before daylight. When the police showed up, they were stuck in the parking lot.”

Police said the pair entered the building by breaking a back window. Sullenberger said as he surveyed the damage with police, he decided to walk outside to see if anything was dropped on the ground. He said that was when he noticed the YMCA’s van had been moved.

Sullenberger said he had an extra set of keys to the vehicle inside his desk drawer. One of the suspects, a young woman, matched the key to the van and attempted to drive away.

“She had the window half down, and I went up and said, ‘This is not your vehicle,’” Sullenberger said. “She said her friend, Tiffany, had just given it to her.”

He said her alleged partner, a young man, was spotted hanging around the YMCA van and tried to walk away but was stopped by police.

When the van’s doors were opened, all the items that had been taken from inside the building were found inside, including the office chair to Sullenberger’s desk.

“I think they used that to wheel out the safe,” he said.

The pair remain in police custody and charges are pending.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2157 or mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.

Share this article