FAIRMONT, NC (WBTW) – A Fairmont convenience store was burglarized twice in three days, and the owner of Bud’s Corner Store says after 32 years of business, seeing something you’ve worked so hard to make a success trashed in a matter of minutes is heartbreaking.
“When I pulled up and saw all of the damage that was done, all I could do was cry,” recalls owner Tonya Jordan. “It’s really frustrating when people destroy what you worked hard to build.”
Robeson County authorities are looking for the culprits behind the break-ins, and hope the surveillance video can help the community identify the burglars.
The first burglary occurred at Bud’s Corner Store shortly after 1:30 a.m. Friday morning.
The next morning, Jordan could only watch as security footage revealed how the men got inside the store. The video shows the suspects pulling on the handles, and eventually a van smashing through the front door, leaving mangled metal and broken glass.
“We had new doors put in. Everything was repaired nicely, but the next morning we had another break-in,” Jordan recounted.
Sunday morning, Jordan reviewed the footage and watched again as strangers approached the newly repaired storefront and smashed the glass doors with a baseball bat. The thief then went inside behind the register and left with cigarettes and a box of ammunition.
“That’s disheartening, you know, when you try to desperately to keep a decent business and put everything that you can into it and then for individuals to come in and within a matter of minutes to destroy what you’ve built, its pretty difficult,” Jordan said. “We stretch dollars as far as we can and when things like this happen, we really have to tighten up our belts and try to pull through it as best as we can.”
Anyone with information about the robberies is asked to call the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office.