A burglar broke into a Pomona cellphone store and got trapped in a stock room. Tony Shin reports for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 2, 2015.
Usually a burglar's goal is to break into a business, but that wasn’t the case in Pomona, California where an accused burglar tried desperately to break out of a mobile phone store.
The unusual circumstances were all caught on surveillance video, after the shop owner said a burglar broke in through the roof, and then got trapped inside the store.
Owner Miguel Cejas said the would-be thief broke into the Sprint store, 20/20 mobile, through the A/C vents.
But after falling to the floor, it appeared the accused burglar quickly realized that there was no merchandise in the locked cage where he’d landed.
It was empty because the store doesn't officially open until next week.
"He then just does a beeline to the exit here,” said Cejas, looking at the surveillance footage
And that’s where Cejas said the would-be burglar made a big mistake, because he just ran into a bandit trap.
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"They're pretty well built,” Cejas said. “Nothing comes in and nothing comes out."
Cejas owns 16 mobile phone stores, and some his stores have been burglarized several times, so he turned this newest one into a mini fortress, with reinforced doors that automatically close behind you.
In the video, you can see the accused burglar kicking the doors repeatedly, trying desperately to get out. The alarms blared and at one point the man breaks down a door, but it just led into an empty room.
After 45 minutes of kicking, he stopped to drink water from a spigot and then finally gave up.
Cejas arrived later to unlock the doors so that police could arrest the man.
"Finally to catch somebody,” Cejas said. “It was delightful."
Soon after the break in, Cejas had his roof reinforced to prevent a break-in from happening again.
He said he now has this warning for criminals.
"Don't try to come into my store because you're not getting into my store 20/20 Mobile," he said.
