SONORA, Calif. (KTXL) - A bold burglar made a clumsy escape after busting through the ceiling of a California business.
“They spent a lot of time doing it. We don't see this too often,” said Sonora Police Chief Turu Vanderwiel.
Chief Vanderwiel said an officer arrested 40-year-old Storm Corral -- who was already on probation -- Monday after the community helped identify him from the surveillance video.
“At times like this is when it becomes very helpful for solving investigations,” Vanderwiel told KTXL.
Police say Corral had help breaking into Cigarettes Cheaper on Dec. 22.
They told KTXL the suspects caused thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to the store and left a mess behind.
“The suspect and suspects actually bored a hole through the ceiling from a vacant building that was above that business and probably spent a couple hours doing it but they broke into the business,” the Sonora police chief explained.
An employee said the suspect never made it from that back room out to the sales floor. He was only able to get away with a bag of rolling tobacco and two energy drinks, which he took from the back room.
“I think when the alarm was tripped it kind of thwarted their activities and they got away with very little but caused a great deal of damage to the business itself," Vanderwiel said.
While Corral has been arrested, the investigation is ongoing and police say, once again, they need the community's help to identify the other suspects involved.
“We know that he had an accomplice, so we're looking to identify that person,” Vanderwiel said.
If you have any information about who that second suspect is, you are asked to call Sonora police.
