WILLIAMSBURG — A masked thief cut through the roof of a 99 cent store on Graham Avenue and snuck away with $4,000 in cash and merchandise, in a heist that's nearly identical to an earlier incident that took place nearby two weeks earlier, according to police and store workers.
The thief smashed a hole in the roof of ABC 99 Cent Plus at 340 Graham Ave. about 3:30 a.m. on Aug. 12 wearing a mask and a headlight strapped on his head, security camera footage shows.
He filled up a bag with toothpaste, bars of soap, deodorant and a handful of lighters, then broke the cash register and snatched the $4,000 inside, according to store workers and the video.
"He did a little shopping," said a worker at the store, Ali Mohamed, 26, who came in the morning after the burglary and soon noticed items scattered in the aisles.
"We start picking up toothpaste on the floor," he said. "We found the cash register just broken."
Mohamed and his coworkers were puzzled about how someone could have made it into the store since the front door wasn't forced open. Then finally they poked their heads into the back room and saw a gaping hole in the ceiling. They've since boarded it up with plywood.
The burglary is nearly identical to an earlier incident that took place at the 99 Cent Discount Market on Graham Avenue near Moore Street on July 27.
In that theft, the masked bandit busted a hole in the roof and stole $5,240 in cash and store merchandise, DNAinfo New York reported.
No arrests have been made in either incident, and a police spokeswoman said the incidents were not currently being investigated as part of a pattern.
Both investigations are ongoing.
