$4,000 in cigarettes stolen from Oak Ridge North Valero station

The Oak Ridge North Police Department is investigating two burglaries of the Valero gas station in which the same burglar caused $3,000 worth of damage and took nearly $4,000 in cigarettes in December.
Detective Sgt. Kent Hubbard said the first burglary occurred at 2:40 a.m. Dec. 24, when a white 1990s Ford F-150 or Ranger pulled up to the Valero gas station at 145 Robinson Road. The suspect approached the store with a stone and broke out the bottom half of one of the glass double doors, crawling underneath, heading for the counter and stuffing $2,000 worth of cigarettes into a trash bag before crawling out two minutes later.
The suspect is believed to be a white or Hispanic male about 5’9” or 5’10” in height and of a “thin build” based on surveillance footage, Hubbard said. Although he believes the man is younger, his face was wrapped in something similar to a turban and he left no finger prints at the scene, where he caused about $1,000 worth of damage.
A second incident occurred at 2:19 a.m. Dec. 28, when what may have been the same suspect pulled up, shattered both glass doors and took $1,700 worth of cigarettes in similar fashion, causing about $2,000 worth of damage.
Hubbard said he did not know of any other leads and that cigarette theft is “fairly common” because of their value and light weight.
In September 2009, a similar burglary occurred at that Valero station, but a tip from a relative helped police identify and catch the suspect. Hubbard does not believe that man to have committed these crimes as he does not match the description.
COPPER THEFT
Police are investigating another crime, where in the afternoon of Jan. 5, it was discovered that seven air conditioning units behind a business center at the 26800 block of Interstate-45 North were damaged. Hubbard said the thieves took copper and precious metals from the units, destroying them in the process and leading to nearly $26,000 worth of damage.
Another common crime, Hubbard said the value of the metals was probably nowhere near the damage caused. The actual date of the crime is still unknown as the units had not been turned on in days and the damage was not discovered until businesses atttempted to operate them Jan. 5.
While all three crimes occurred around the holidays, Hubbard said it is likely just a coincidence, as the crimes are not uncommon.
“These types of crimes occur throughout the year,” he said.