Okotoks auto garage broken into twice in a fortnight

An Okotoks business was targeted by thieves twice in the span of two weeks.

In early October, owner of Fountain Tire Okotoks, Dean White, was awoken in the early hours of the morning by a call notifying him that the motion tracker in the shop's front showroom had been activated.

On arriving at the business, he found the front door had been smashed.

The thieves had tried to grab keys but were unsuccessful.

White says the shop was struck again on October 23.

"Somebody decided that they were going to hook a tow strap up to our lock box where we store the keys for the after-hours drop. I noticed the front window was smashed in, so two break-ins in a two-week span. Definitely not expected, for sure."

During the second break-in, thieves smashed through the shop's front window. Photo courtesy of Dean White. 

The thieves didn't succeed in removing the lock box but did make off with a box containing petty cash.

While no keys or high-value items were taken, White was left with a steep repair bill.

"The door was about $500 the first time around. I didn't go through insurance because it's well below my deductible. The second time around with the window, the window is north of $2,000 and the little bit of petty cash. The damage to my bay door with them trying to cut through it, with the repair to the door it's almost $6,000."

He's working with his insurance provider, but with his deductible and the original door repair, he's out $2,500.

White also plans to install shutters on the front windows and doors once the new window is installed.

Both experiences have left him exhausted, mentally and physically.

"Each time, I was at the shop in the middle of the night cleaning up glass and trying to fortify the window and the door so I could go home and salvage any bit of sleep. During this busy season right now I'm typically here 12 hours a day. The one night there I had about an hour and a half of sleep, and that stuff plays on your mind, of course. That type of stuff, at the end of the day, it's tough to take sometimes."

The Fountain Tire in High River was broken into in late September.

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