Vancouver police look for 'crash and grab' thief

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By Angelica Thornton and KATU Web Staff

Summary

The suspect bashed his vehicle into at least two Vancouver businesses Friday morning, making off with cigarettes and computers. Both businesses suffered extensive physical damage from the impacts.

Story Published: May 19, 2007 at 12:10 PM PDT

Story Updated: Apr 14, 2009 at 5:12 PM PDT

VANCOUVER, Wash. - Police in Vancouver, Washington are looking for a suspect who rammed his vehicle into at least two businesses early Friday morning.

The driver then hopped out of the vehicle and with face covered, made off with cigarettes from a convenience store and laptop computers for another business.

Both businesses suffered extensive physical damage from the impacts.

The first business, an S & S convenience store, was hit about 5 a.m. The incident was caught by the store's video security system.

The suspect could be seen stuffing cartons of cigarettes into a recycle bin and then tossing the bin into the back of his vehicle before driving away. No other items were taken.

Just 20 minutes later, the thief struck again at a computer store a mile away from the first location.

The owner says 18 laptop computers were stolen, worth about $4,500 in all. He says the damage to his business will probably cost even more to repair.

"I'll have to go into my savings, use credit cards to replace it that I hadn't planned on using, so it makes it harder for me to replace it," computer store owner Ken Huckaby says. "The insurance company is not going to reimburse me for everything."

The thief was again caught on security video at the computer store.

Vancouver police were able to get a license plate from the vehicle and they're following several leads, but still want people with information to call them.