Suspected thief creates manmade hole to break into store through neighboring business in Fife

FIFE, Wash. — Investigators hope surveillance video helps find a suspected thief accused of stealing about $30,000 worth of cash and goods from a phone store in Fife.

The thief broke into the Metro By T-Mobile store on Pacific Highway by creating a hole through a neighboring, vacant business.

“This person had went into an adjacent business (and) cut into the sheet rock into the (Metro By T-Mobile) building,” said David Woods, an assistant chief with the Fife Police Department. “They do have surveillance video of the person. We’re hoping that’s going to be one of our biggest leads and that someone can help us identify this person.”

The security video shows a man entering the store’s inventory room through a man-made hole. He immediately looks at the camera, before quickly turning the camera towards a wall. As he approached the camera to turn it away, his face was caught on camera.

While the image provides investigators with a key piece of evidence, it’s also left many questions.

“How did he know that he could get through the sheet rock? And how did that person know what was inside that business? Those are all great questions we’re more than eager to ask once we identify this person,” Woods said. “There are potential fingerprints that we do have and have recovered. Those take a little bit longer, but that face - somebody knows who this person is. And somebody can come forward and we would greatly appreciate that information.

The Fife Police Department asked anyone with information to call their main office at 253-922-6633 .

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