BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Surveillance shows thieves violently smashing through glass -- twice in one week -- at two different marijuana retailers in Bellingham.
The stores have the same owner, and he’s not sitting idly by waiting for police to solve the crimes.
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In the second incident, which happened overnight Tuesday, three men used a hammer to shatter the front glass door, ransack the Bellingham pot shop, The Joint, then shatter the rear glass door in order to make their escape.
“We just put that door in,” explained owner Ken Linse, pointing at the back door now boarded up. “It cost $2,000 and has been in less than 24 hours, so yeah it’s going to add up quick.”
And add up big -- Ken estimates about $15,000 in door and store damage plus product stolen during the 3 a.m. burglary.
On its own, that’s a lot, but when combined with a very similar break-in at Ken’s other retail shop just last week, he puts the total loss at closer to $25,000.
"It's upsetting. I think we're fortunate. It could have been a lot worse, as always -- so just try to look at the bright side of this somehow," Ken told us, showing us video from both break-ins.
For him, the bright side is twofold; he has very clear still images and video from the break-in at The Joint, but the video from the first store hit, Green Leaf, may be even better.
In that case, the thieves were only wearing hoods, their faces weren’t covered, and they were standing practically still in front of the outside camera for at least 30 seconds.
Ken is convinced at least one of the suspects is involved in both burglaries. We asked Bellingham police and they say that’s certainly possible. While they look for more information, so do Ken and his employees.
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“It definitely hits home -- I love my work, I love my co-workers,” said Green Leaf employee Holly Schrock. She’s been showing the pictures to customers.
“We’ve just been kind of getting it out there, showing them who they are, trying to see if we can get some feedback,” Holly said to us.
Nothing yet, but Ken is convinced they’ll be caught, and while it certainly cost him, he hopes it will cost them their freedom.
“I don’t think a couple years in jail is worth a few grams of weed. I wouldn’t think so,” Ken concluded.
Bellingham police say since the first of the year there have been two other burglaries related to marijuana businesses -- one at a processing facility and the other at a retail store.
Police caught the suspects in the act at the retail store and arrested them on the spot.