CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Managers of a west Charlotte business are asking for the public’s help identifying the men who broke in early Sunday morning.
Surveillance video shows three men trying to break down the door of Schneider Tree Care. Armed with crowbars they refused to give up, then turning to the steel insulated garage door.
The thieves eventually made it inside and completely ransacked the garage, taking more than $20,000 worth of chainsaws, blowers and other equipment.
Making matters worse, this is not the first time the business has been robbed.
The entire thing was caught on camera and the Ring system tripped the alarm, but management and CMPD were never notified, giving the thieves hours to commit the crime.
“You can build as much security as you want, but if there’s a will, there’s a way,” said Joshua Milbourne, the Branch Manager for Schneider Tree Care in west Charlotte.
He says this is not their first rodeo -- the business has been robbed four times before. It’s prompted them to make several changes to where and how they store their equipment. They also armed the property with Ring cameras.
“We have also a Ring monitoring, security system,” said Ryan Chipman, Vice President of business development.
The alarm went off, but a key piece didn’t work.
“There was no call to us to let us know that this intrusion had happened. We weren't able to respond appropriately, and we find that to be the reason why everything is gone,” says Milbourne.
Once they realized no one came and the alarm stopped, the three men came back, overcoming the next line of security. The tools were all locked to a rack on the wall, held up with wire that’s nearly impossible to cut. Milbourne says they were able to find the one weak spot in the system and took all of the chainsaws, at least $17,000 worth.
The business has it’s core values listed on the wall, one of them “doing the right thing.” They see this as more than the loss in their bottom line.
“It’s frustrating and we can get mad at those guys all we want," Chipman said. "At the same time, something has failed in their lives for them to feel like this is the best way forward."
The company is working with Ring to figure out why they weren't notified the alarm was going off. Meanwhile, anyone with information on who the thieves are is asked to call CMPD.
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