Hardware store hit by ‘Mission Impossible’ burglars
By Drew Marine
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PORTLAND, Oregon (KPTV) — Pearl Hardware is out thousands of dollars after two burglars came in the middle of the night, and the way the suspects broke in was like something out of a movie.
“Kind of like a Mission Impossible type thing. Not as cleanly,” Pearl Hardware Supervisor Drew Stefani said.
On Sunday, at around 1:30 a.m., Stefani said two people broke into their store and stole $5,500 worth of merchandise.
“Two people basically got on top of the building and rappelled in through our skylight,” she said.
The whole thing was caught on camera. Surveillance video shows rope hanging down from the skylight and a person shimmying down. Then a second person, wearing a bright orange hoodie, rappels down after, falling from the rope and crashing into shelving on the way down.
Once the pair was in, the video shows them making their way through the aisles, piling things into carts and storage bins. One even broke a few glass cases to get to items like power tools.
“They were in here for about 30 minutes because they didn’t trigger an alarm. They basically stole a bunch of flashlights, all of our nest thermometers, a lot of power tools, a lot of small compact big-ticket items that are easy to sell,” Stefani said.
After the two loaded everything up, they attempted to get out through a back door, which Stefani said triggered an alarm that alerted police and the owner.
Stefani said not only is this break in violating, but it’s frustrating too. They’re getting their roof fixed, which is why the scaffolding was there in the first place.
“It’s always a little unsettling watching people break into your space,” she said. “We’ve been dealing with leaks throughout the store this whole – last year and this year – if it’s not one thing it’s another.”
A manager at Pearl Hardware asks anyone who recognizes the suspects to please call Portland police.
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