Thief arrested after owner watches break-in on surveillance video

Surveillance video and an alert business owner helped police catch a man who allegedly broke into the same car wash four times.

According to the Brown Deer police report:

A 42-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested at 11:35 p.m. July 10 for burglaries all caught on surveillance video at Car Choice Auto Wash, 8300 N. Teutonia Ave., on July 5, 6, 7 and 10.

On July 10, the owner was watching surveillance video from his home and saw the man, whom he recognized as the same man in the other burglaries, breaking into his business and called police.

The man was arrested but said he had only entered the business because he had to “pee.” In each burglary the man used a crow bar to open the pay boxes taking at least $200 each time. On July 5, he also took the payment device valued at $3,462 which held about $300.

That afternoon, an officer saw that device discarded in the 8100 block of North Sherman Boulevard. The money was gone.