$14,000 taken from warehouse

No suspect found in October Forty-Niner Shops Inc. burglary

 

By Andrea Makshanoff, On-Line Forty-Niner

Tuesday, November 10, 1998

Two safes containing an approximate total of $14,000 were taken from the Forty-Niner Shops Inc. warehouse located below the Chart Room sometime between 10 p.m. Oct. 27 and 6 a.m. the following day.

"Evidently they knew what they wanted. The safes are not visible from the outside," said Roman Gulon, the Shops' general manager.

Gulon said the burglars entered the warehouse through the loading dock area by opening the electronically-operated rollup door.

The inventories for The Beach Hut, The Pyramid, Blair Field and the campus food carts are stored in the warehouse, and the safes contained the daily receipts from those enterprises, Gulon said.

"I've been here since 1985 and we have never had cash that large stolen," Gulon said. "We have insurance, but we also have a $5,000 deductible."

According to Lt. Judy King of the University Police, marks on the pavement from the weight of the safes indicated they were placed onto one of the metal-wheeled pushcarts that are stored in the area and then wheeled down the ramp from the loading dock to Lot 4, where they were apparently loaded into a vehicle.

The 3-foot by 3-foot safes would take at least two people to move them and a van or truck to transport them, King said.

"The safes were dropped from the loading dock to the landing area, at least four feet, and made an indentation in the cement," King said. "[This is] not the kind of thing you can throw on your back and just walk away with."

King said there were fingerprints, however the area is frequented by employees.

The prints were removed and submitted to a lab in Long Beach for special processing.

"We can do fingerprints here but standard fingerprinting on certain items may not get a sharp enough image to get a good read," King said. "We do not have a fuming lab," she said of the special process that may be needed.

According to King, the electronic lock was outwitted. "Someone had prior knowledge of what was there and how to defeat it," King said. "There were cameras in the area but [the burglars] placed items over the top of the camera."

The doors were secured in a manner that was thought to be burglar-proof, King said, and the dock area is not visible from the road and police cars that may be patrolling the area.

"We will take additional measures to protect that area and tie that area to the campus police," Gulon said. "But if someone really wants to get something, they are going to get it no matter how much security you have in place."

"Everyone is sort of disappointed that something like this happened," Gulon said in reference to the employees of the warehouse area.

King said though several possibilities were being checked out by the campus police, nothing concrete has yet been found. To report any information regarding the case, please call (562) 985-4101.