Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 11, 1994 TAG: 9410110139
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KIMBERLY N. MARTIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
His Salem Avenue Southwest business had been burglarized over the weekend. And his family was forced to literally pick up the pieces.
According to police reports, a burglar threw a brick through a window at Gibson Radiator Shop on Sunday morning. The burglar loaded a 2-month-old pickup with hand tools, then prepared for his getaway. One problem: the garage door wouldn't budge.
The burglar tried a hammer. He tried a screwdriver. But Gibson's security system - a stubborn padlock on the garage door track - wouldn't give. So he backed Gibson's shiny white truck through the garage door, police said.
Police found Michael Anthony Thomas and the stolen truck at a 13th Street Southwest gas station. The keys to Gibson's pickup were in his pocket, police said. Thomas, whose address wasn't known to police, was charged with breaking and entering and grand larceny.
When Gibson reached his family's 65-year-old business, he found a caramel and cream-colored patchwork of plywood replacing the garage door. He also found his new truck with dark brown wounds on the roof and hood from the caved-in garage door.
Theft is nothing new to the Gibsons, whose shop has been burglarized before.
"They stole money out of the drink machine before, and about 10 years ago they stole some anti-freeze, but this is the worst we ever had," he said.
He estimates the value of the unrecovered tools at about $2,000 and repairs on the door at about $1,000. The only money missing was his employees' cookie fund money, Gibson said.
by CNB