Dash Saver, an auto upholstery shop in Albuquerque, New Mexico, experienced a close call on Friday morning when its owner arrived to open its doors only to find the business broken into, vandalized and the alleged criminal still inside.
“The owner arrived this morning and found his business in shambles and believes there was an individual still inside,” police spokesman Fred Duran told Albuquerque Journal.
Officers from the Albuquerque Police Department quickly responded to a 911 call for help and apprehended the suspect without incident.
“He’s inside the business and he wasn’t suppose to be. There was forced entry,” Duran added. “All elements are there for us to charge him with it.”
Thankfully the damage wasn’t too extensive. Shop owner Tom told The Hog Ring on Monday that he suspected the vandal was a drug user who needed a place to shoot heroin and sleep.
“We found him sleeping under some seat covers,” Tom said. “He broke a hole in the wall, used a knife to cut up seat covers I was working on and scattered floor mats and equipment all over.”
Nevertheless, Tom said the damage wasn’t worth contacting his insurance company over because of his plan’s high deductible. The important thing is that everyone is safe, he added.
Thankfully the vandal didn’t hurt Dash Saver‘s business. In fact, the operation is already back up and running, and the team is hoping to put the incident behind them.
Talk to us: Aside from insurance, what steps have you taken to shield your auto upholstery shop from vandals, thieves or other criminals? Tell us in the comments section below.
Retired… Previous owner of Moore’s Trim Shop formally Munday’s Trim Shop. Our old shop had a very narrow drive in between two other buildings off a main road HWY 70 west in Hickory N. C. all three buidings were owned by the same person who worked out of one of the buildings running an Antiques Business And Refinishing Business. If He Was not working we were And He Also Owned A House Near by That Could See All Three Businesses So We Were Pretty much protected except for one bad employee once who broke in stole the keys to a car and stole the car. We Were just thankful the car was owned by our shop and not another customer.
I have a 90 lb. Dobie. Shop dog.
My ‘Perimeter Security Device’! If he thinks something’s up, something’s fishy, he makes that well known.
He’s a great judge of character. He likes 99% of the people walking through the door. But if he doesn’t like someone, it’s for a reason, which is not always that apparent to me. Seems that he knows when a person is up to no good. Casing the joint, as it were.
He hasn’t been wrong, yet.