“I looked at the phone, there was two people running behind the counter grabbing phones. So I called the police immediately,” he said. But when officers arrived the males were gone, and so were thousands of dollars in cellphones. “They’re going to sell maybe $7,000, $8,000 dollars inventory for a few hundred dollars.”
On Saturday, Lawrence Evans of Dayton helped board up the smashed door.
“For cellphones it’s kind of sad … just little cellphones that are already inventoried; you can’t sell them, you can’t hook them up,” he said.
Three weeks ago, Evans helped to open the MetroPCS store on Main Street across from the People’s Market.
“I renovated this place inside and out, painted inside and out, so I took a lot of pride because I did this for the neighborhood, the community,” Evans said.
The burglary is disappointing, but not surprising.
“We were pre-warned that every place on Main Street is going to get robbed eventually. We were pre-warned, you know, they’re going to break in there,” Evans said.
“They told me it was a bad location,” Jaber said, adding he had hope for his business and now is hopeful insurance will cover the cost of the stolen goods and repairs.
Police told Jaber they are still gathering evidence as to the thieves’ identities. Anyone with information is urged to call CrimeStoppers at 937-222-STOP(7867).