2 men sought in York County smash-and-grab spree

The same night a Herlong Avenue jewelry store in Rock Hill was broken into and several thousand dollars worth of jewelry stolen, a second business on the same street also was burglarized under similar circumstances.

The next night, a Fort Mill food store was broken into the same way, again by two masked men matching the description and modus operandi of the previous heists – smash, then grab.

At 12:07 a.m. Wednesday, security footage at Culina restaurant on Herlong showed two unknown individuals smashing through a glass with cinder blocks and entering the business, according to a Rock Hill police report. A short time later, the two can be seen leaving the area carrying a safe, which contained $500 in gift cards and a $200 Beats Audio Pill speaker. Damage to the business was estimated at $1,000.

This break-in occurred approximately 30 minutes before a similar break-in at Norman Hege Jewelers on the same block. Two masked men can be seen on security video breaking through a glass door and stealing $27,000 worth of jewelry.

The two incidents happened so close together, Culina owner Jose Vasquez said, “They told me my cash box was found in the jewelers.”

While an alarm at the jewelry store alerted police to the break-in immediately, the burglary at Culina wasn’t discovered until the next day when Vasquez arrived to open up and discovered the damage.

The back door to the restaurant was shattered, and Vasquez found three cinder blocks sitting in the dining room with the glass. It took that many to smash the door, and the burglars can be seen hurling the blocks at the door. The break-in left the back door boarded up throughout the day, and disrupted the restaurant’s daily business.

“We had to close for lunch,” Vasquez said, “but, that’s business.”

Rock Hill police spokesman Mark Bollinger said investigators are treating the two cases as related.

The York County Sheriff’s Office is doing the same with a break-in at 3 a.m. Thursday on the U.S. 21 Bypass in Fort Mill. Again, two men wearing masks and gloves can be seen on surveillance footage breaking through a glass door with large “landscaping rocks” at the Times Turn Around. The burglars stole the trays from two cash registers and fled the convenience store.

It’s unclear how much money was stolen, but an assistant manager told sheriff’s deputies the damage to the door totaled $600 and it would cost an estimated $15,000 to replace the registers.

Detectives are comparing notes with their counterparts in Rock Hill to see if the two burglars can be identified, said Trent Faris, sheriff’s office spokesman.

This story was originally published March 19, 2015 at 10:32 AM with the headline "2 men sought in York County smash-and-grab spree."