DUBOIS – Two men who were seen on surveillance video breaking into a DuBois business waived their rights to preliminary hearings on Friday.
David Michael Schurr, 28, 501 S. Brady St., DuBois, and David Jeffery Allen, 26, 5498 Chestnut Grove Hwy., Grampian are charged with burglary, criminal trespass, criminal conspiracy, theft by unlawful taking, criminal mischief and receiving stolen property. They both are in the Clearfield County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail each. The pair is charged with burglarizing Royers 219 Auto Sales during the early morning hours of Jan. 28.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, the manager told police when he opened the business, he saw his office had been ransacked and the safe was pried open. A broken window on the back side near the garage appeared to be the point of entry for the thieves. Once inside the building they opened locked cabinets, safes and a petty cash box. The cash missing totaled $2,200 and 16 inspection stickers valued at $4,360 were also missing. Other items taken were two computer towers, a wireless internet card, a cell phone and charger. The total value was estimated to be $9,740.
There was damage to multiple surveillance cameras and the surveillance system. Damage was estimated at $5,865.
There was surveillance footage still available from the crime and police were able to view two males in the office area, breaking into the safe with a crow bar. Both males were wearing hooded sweatshirts and they left the business in a dark-colored Dodge Intrepid.
On Jan. 29, the business received a call from a man who claimed to be the one who broke into their building. He knew details of the burglary. Because he said he was going to call back, a trace was set up for all incoming calls. He called back saying he would return the items because he did not want to go back to jail. He called later to say he dropped off the inspection stickers near Agway. Employees were able to recover these items.
Police received information that Allen and Schurr were the burglars. A witness told police Allen offered to sell him stolen inspection stickers. When this man saw the footage from the surveillance cameras, he recognized Allen. When the witness asked Allen about it, he admitted to the crime.
Allen was taken into custody later that day. He at first denied any involvement but then confessed. He also admitted to being the one that had called Royers after he found out he was seen on the video. He refused to identify the other man because he didn’t want “to give up” anyone else.
On Jan. 30, police received another tip identifying Allen and Schurr as the ones in the video. Police then went to Schurr’s residence where they talked to his mother who was upset. She had seen the video online and confirmed the other man was Schurr. She said she was trying to contact him, but he was refusing to answer her calls and text messages. Schurr’s mother has a dark Dodge Intrepid, which she said her son was driving the night of the burglary.
