Police this week solved a Lakeview comic store burglary that was captured on surveillance cameras in March. And they can thank the thief’s guilty conscience for helping them clear the case.
We told you about the March 8 break-in at Graham Crackers, 3162 North Broadway, a few weeks ago. Video footage showed a prowler walking around the store as he called a friend for advice on what he should steal.
“I’m in this store,” he was heard saying. “I need to know…Marvels, all kinds of sh#t.” He asked the person on the other end to wake up a female who apparently knows more about comics than he does. “Wake her up. I’m in this b#tch.”
The burglar eventually selected Magic Cards, a TV, a KISS Starchild figure, a Bart Simpson bank, and a few other items, store manager John Robinson said.
As with most random break-ins, detectives didn’t get much traction as they looked at the case. Then, last Wednesday, they got a phone call from the store manager. The burglar had just walked into the store to apologize.
“He felt guilty,” a prosecutor said in bond court Friday. The burglar even brought back the store’s stolen iPad.
Cops arrested 31-year-old Derrick Jones and prosecutors charged him with felony burglary. Judge Susana Ortiz released him on his own recognizance.
Jones admitted to breaking into the store, according to detectives. He has two felony and three misdemeanor convictions in his past, prosecutors said.