Caught on camera: Burglar smashes through business door, makes off with cell phones

See video of break-in below

Brandon Guillory sits in his office watching video of a burglar smash through his business’s front door with a baseball bat and then help himself to thousands of dollars worth of merchandise.

Guillory is obviously tired. He rewinds the video and plays it again, going through different scenarios.

“You see he comes around in front of the building and then goes to the back to get the bat. It’s like he stashed it there,” he said.

He rewinds the video again looking for subtleties that investigators may not be able to pick up.

“Maybe he took the railroad tracks behind us. Maybe he was on foot,” he said.

The Boutte store, which specializes in smart phone repairs and accessories and has only been open since October of last year, did not have a security system although it did have cameras running at the time.

Video footage from the crime shows a male dressed in all white run in front of the building just before 3 a.m. on the morning of Friday, July 26. The thief can be seen running around the building and returning with a baseball bat that he then used to smash a hole in the bottom part of one of the store’s front doors. With the door smashed, he climbed in.

Once inside the thief emptied the display cases of 17 smart phones, worth an estimated $6,000-$8,000, into a backpack and in under two minutes exits the store walking away casually while hiding the bat behind his side.

Brandon Guillory, who is a co-owner of the store, said he did not think he needed an alarm system because the store is located on such a well traveled roadway.

“I’ve just got to take more precaution. I’ve got to get a better system,” he said. ” I was going to get one and being right on the highway in plain site I thought cars would be driving by and I didn’t get it.”

Guillory said he has insurance, but he does not want to be at the whim of an insurance agency.

“I have insurance and I hope they take care of it. Just knowing it could possibly not get covered is upsetting,” he said.

For Guillory, the timing could not have been worse. He is preparing to break off from his partner in iSupply and go into business on his own as Repair Dat.

“What’s crazy is this is happening right before we move,” he said.

This is the second such burglary that has occurred on Highway 90 in Boutte in the past two months. On May 16, Vince’s Auto Parts, which is located only a few blocks away from iSupply, had a similar type of break in when someone smashed their front door and took expensive stereo equipment.

“That’s what was with Vince’s Auto – It was a real quick smash and grab job also. They just went in there and stole a lot of his stereo equipment,” George Casillas, owner of Diamond Auto Glass, said.

Since opening Diamond Auto Glass about a year ago, Casillas said he has been called out to repair at least four glass doors that have been smashed in.

“That’s a shame man. I mean all people have to do is work for a living,” he said. “Why bother going to jail and everything else?”

The St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office is currently investigating the iSupply robbery as well as the earlier break in at Vince’s Auto Parts. At this time they have not made any arrests in the burglaries.

 

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