Police: Thieves steal almost $40,000 worth of goods from cell phone stores, pharmacies

New Castle County, Del. (WTXF) - Police are investigating after six businesses were targeted--five of them in less than 30 minutes--with almost $40,000 worth of goods stolen.

"We've cleaned up a lot but this is pretty much it. These are really the only damages we took here," said Jordan Michael. He and other workers arrived at work Sunday morning to shattered glass at the front door. He's the manager at AT&T on Naamans Road in Wilmington.

"It was a fast process I can tell you that much. In and out. Probably not more than a minute." Michael says surveillance video not released yet showed two people inside the store after forcing their way in but he says they didn't get away with anything because they couldn't get into the store safes.

"Luckily for us we didn't take the hit like some of the other locations," he said. And that's true because according to Delaware State Police the thieves got exactly what they came for at several other cellphone stores and pharmacies along Naamans Road. Five in Wilmington. One in Newark.

"It's definitely crazy. It's been an ongoing thing with the cellphone stores. This is the first time I've seen pharmacies getting the heat," said Michael. We told mark Rubenstein what happened as he headed into Walgreens.

"I'm not surprised with the drug problem that's in Wilmington right now," said Rubenstein. Police say the spree started in Wilmington at 3:07 in the morning and ended at another cellphone store in Newark at 3:44 a.m. That's where the thieves reportedly made off with more than $36,000 worth of cellphones.

"If you bring it anywhere to get it hooked up, all these phones are $1,000 phones. They're smart phones so it pops right up this phone is unable to be used. It's blacklisted," said Michael. That may be the case but he also said that won't stop thieves from trying to sell the phones on the street or online. Police say they plan to release surveillance pictures of two suspects once they get video from each store.