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VIDEO: Smash and grab robberies rampant at Davenport cell phone stores

Cell phone stores in Davenport are being targeted by thieves, who are throwing large rocks through the storefronts, and leaving with a garbage can full of I-Pho...

DAVENPORT- Cell phone stores in Davenport are being targeted by thieves, who are throwing large rocks through the storefronts, and leaving with a garbage can full of I-Phones and Androids.

"My location got hit with more than 10-thousand dollars worth of stolen devices, just my store alone. And it keeps happening, " said Amanda Skocz, a manager with Boost Mobile on West Kimberly in Davenport.

Dramatic surveillance video from another Boost Mobile store from Monday, October 23rd, shows a man heaving a large rock into a store on West Kimberly Road, and entering with a garbage can. He was in and out in less than two minutes.

"The burglaries are becoming repetitive and the burglar is becoming bolder every time. We need to stand up and be vigilant," said Hammad Grewal, with Boost Mobile.

In the past 16 days, six Boost stores in Davenport have been hit by the thieves, some of them, twice in one week.

And, they're not alone.

"Our friends at iWireless, on East Kimberly Road in Davenport, this store has been burglarized at least six times in eight weeks. Cricket Wireless on East Locust has also been burglarized. All these business still have plywood on the windows and doors," Grewal said.

He says he has spoken with Davenport Police about the break-ins but was told that "the department is overloaded with cases and is understaffed. Priority right now is the recent homicides", he said.

Grewal says he's going public with the surveillance video to try and solicit leads and information about a suspect.

Boost Mobile says it is offering a $500 reward for information that leads to an arrest.

"We need help, we need help from the police department, we need help from the community to catch these bad guys," said Skocz, who says most of her inventory has been wiped out by the thieves.

Boost Mobile says at least two people who purchased the stolen I-Phones say they paid $150 apiece and bought them from two men in a red van at the parking lot of a SuperSaver Liquor store on Rockingham Road.

The phones don't work because they are deactivated by the cell phone company.

"They're basically expensive paperweights," said Skocz.

 

 

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