Redmond’s St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store sees 8 break-ins in past month; police using surveillance video

(Update: Adding video, comments from St. Vincent Redmond's store manager, Redmond police)

REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Redmond's St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store has been broken into eight times over the past month, resulting in property and vehicle damage and the theft of various items used to stock the store, according to an employee.

"I would say an estimate would be from $1,500-$2,000," St. Vincent Redmond Store Manager Robert Moore said Wednesday.

The nonprofit organization uses the items sold in their thrift store on SW Veterans Way to fund various outreach programs, including their food bank, Giving Closet and Laundry of Love service.

Moore has only held his position for five weeks. He believes the same two people, a male and female, have been accessing their back lot and stealing items like power tools, pressure washers and scrap metal.

"Mostly what they're doing is cutting the fence, so they'll go top to bottom, so that they can get through easily, but also transfer things they're taking from us through those holes," Moore explained.

According to Moore, the thieves show up either right after sunset, or between 2 and 3 a.m. 

In addition to stealing items from the back lot, the thieves have also cut gas lines to St. Vincent's vehicles, siphoning nearly a full tank of gas each time.

Redmond Police Patrol Lieutenant April Huey told us Wednesday, "We have assigned it for some further investigation. There is video surveillance that we've reviewed, so we're using that to identify suspects and follow up on that."

Only one other break-in in Redmond has been reported to police over the past month. In that case, a fence was damaged, but no property was stolen.

"We average about 4-10 over the last four years of businesses that get broken into after hours," Huey explained. "So this really isn't any more of a trend than over the last four years or so. It is ironic that this one has had six over the last month."

According to Huey, any property stolen between $1-$1,000 is considered criminal mischief, a Class A misdemeanor, and carries a possible fine of up to $6,250. Trespassing is a Class C misdemeanor, and carries a potential fine of up to $1,250.

Moore said, "This is taking resources from our different programs and is redirecting it into fixing the fences."

Huey's message to businesses and the public: "Just make sure you're continuing to lock up your valuable items, and if you have video evidence, also let us know about that, so we can collect that."

St. Vincent says it's adding additional cameras, and a nightly patrol service for increased security.

They're also looking at improving fencing, with a more modern security fence.