Police Search for Tobacco Store Burglars

Gene Kennedy ReportingBurglars caught in the act and still on the run this afternoon. It was an early-morning burglary spree; the targets were two Smokey's cigarette stores, one in West Jordan, the other in Sandy.

The owner says he has proof these kids did this. He would not let us show the surveillance video, but he says on the tape are kids wearing hoodies breaking into the business. What's so upsetting is for the second time in two days, the owner has had to buy a new front window.

It was an uncomfortable déjà vu, a store burglarized twice in less than 48 hours. This morning it went down the way it did the night before. Someone smashed the front door with a baseball bat, three or four people slipped underneath the security gate, and the group stole cigarettes.

Minutes later, around 3:30 this morning, an attempted burglary at the Smokey's shop down the road in West Jordan. Employees at a nearby Shopko saw the thieves.

Lorrie Jenkins, Witness: "Came out to have a smoke and seen 'em running out of their car to the store with a baseball bat."

Brandie Ewell, Witness: "Yeah they were just running back and forth and kept hesitating breaking the window. As soon as the officer pulled up, they took off."

So the thieves never succeeded in burglarizing this business, but the hunt is still on for three or four suspects.

Initially, police contained the area and tried to track the thieves down with canines, but then came an interesting twist. When police searched the car, they not only found packs and cartons of cigarettes, but a wallet sitting on the seat. Officers tracked the car's owner down and she indicated to police her son may be one of the thieves.

There are still no arrests in this case, but police hope if they can catch the car owner's son, he may lead them to the others.

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