At least eight business owners in north Lakeland reported attempted break-ins, burglaries, or criminal mischief at their establishments beginning July 8.
Two of those incidents occurred on Monday night into Tuesday morning.
According to the co-owner of Culver’s on 98 North after his employees came to work Tuesday morning to find evidence of an attempted break-in at the drive-thru.
“He tried to break through the window,” Nathan Devine, co-owner of Culver’s, said. “It is hurricane glass. You cannot get through it but you are able to crack it. Obviously, we have replacement glass on order.”
Devine checked his surveillance cameras and discovered a video of a man hitting the window with, what Devine thinks, is a brick paver.
“We love this community and it was just disappointing to see,” he said.
Also overnight, Cory McPhaul, 24, was arrested after a detective said he observed him trying to break into the Zone 98 Smoke Shop, a few buildings away from Culver’s.
McPhaul was seen trying to shatter the glass of the front door with an unknown object, according to police.
He was armed with a large knife in his pocket, an arrest affidavit showed.
“Our local business owners, they work very hard for their businesses,” Robin Tillett, public information officer at the Lakeland Police Department, said.
Police said several business owners in the north Lakeland area reported attempted break-ins or burglaries in the last eight days.
“Some of the similarities are that power was cut to many of the businesses and, yes, there were attempts at him sometimes successfully, sometimes not, but attempting to break glass or front door windows,” Tillett said.
McPhaul is in custody for the alleged smoke shop incident but is a person of interest in the other cases.
“These types of crimes, someone has to pay for that cost. It’s expensive to have all of these things fixed and we certainly want the business owner and their customers to feel safe,” Tillett said.