Gas station owner hopes surveillance video leads to arrest

The thief or thieves responsible for burglarizing a Shell station in Indio remain at large. A masked man broke into the store early Monday morning.

Dramatic surveillance video shows how he attached a tow rope to an automatic teller machine, then a vehicle outside pulled the machine out. The owner, who remained anonymous, expressed his frustration.

“It’s just one of those things, I don’t know where these guys came from,” said the owner. “They thought they could do it and this time they were successful.”

The whole burglary only took a matter of minutes. The thief or thieves worked with a plan and with clear intent. “It doesn’t appear that it was just on a whim that they decided to go in there, but obviously they knew what they wanted and they wanted that ATM machine,” said Ben Guitron, public information officer for the Indio police department.

The planned nature of the crime concerns the owner the most. “It makes me mad, I’m upset,” said the owner. “I’m upset that they had the audacity to do that.”

The owner and his staff worked quickly to clean up the mess from the burglary, however the financial burden is going to last. “Back then when I bought it, it cost over five grand, so that’s gone,” said the owner. “Then the money that was in it, that’s quite a bit of money.

Having to repair the door and the damage that was done inside, you’re looking at several thousands and thousands of dollars.”

The Indio police department hopes the video can help catch the people who did it.

“It concerns me that people are always looking for opportunities and this is what they did to this business,” said Guitron. “We really want to know who they are and hold them accountable for what they did.”

The owner is offering a $1,000 reward for any information that leads to the arrest of the culprits. Also if you have any information regarding the burglary, call Valley Crimestoppers at 760-341-STOP.