EAST PALATKA, FL -- At Buddie's Kountry Korner in East Palatka, some cables are all that's left of two car vacuum cleaners.
Early Wednesday morning, thieves ripped the devices right out of the ground.
The crime was caught on surveillance cameras. The video shows two men pulling up in a maroon pick up truck, tying the vacuum cleaner to the truck and taking off, dragging the vacuum cleaner on the ground.
The theft even surprised Detective James Edgar with the Putnam County Sheriff's Office.
Edgar said "You can see when the truck pulled it up, the vacuum was still energized. So you can see the sparks, and I'm like-- holy cow!"
Three minutes after the first vacuum heist, the video shows the thieves coming back for the second vacuum cleaner. Again, they chained it to the maroon truck, ripped it up out of the ground, and dragged it behind the truck.
On a dirt road, less than a mile away, investigators found the dumped vacuum cleaner. They were in pieces and the $400 in coins were all gone... almost. First Coast News found one coin in the dirt next to one of the machines, so it wasn't really a clean sweep.
The owner of the store said the thieves left him with about $13,000 in damages.
Garrick said
15:57 04/28 2008
wah di ra**...bet you seh is a yaadie do it
Crazypickney said
09:28 04/29 2008
them theif the first one and come back fi a second one, my gosh man!
RiddimRyder said
09:30 04/29 2008
clean getaway!!!
Msz JayBee said
09:32 04/29 2008
I'm not suppose to laugh but it's the way they carried out this robbery that's so funny.
Early Wednesday morning, thieves ripped the devices right out of the ground.
The crime was caught on surveillance cameras. The video shows two men pulling up in a maroon pick up truck, tying the vacuum cleaner to the truck and taking off, dragging the vacuum cleaner on the ground.
The theft even surprised Detective James Edgar with the Putnam County Sheriff's Office.
Edgar said "You can see when the truck pulled it up, the vacuum was still energized. So you can see the sparks, and I'm like-- holy cow!"
Three minutes after the first vacuum heist, the video shows the thieves coming back for the second vacuum cleaner. Again, they chained it to the maroon truck, ripped it up out of the ground, and dragged it behind the truck.
On a dirt road, less than a mile away, investigators found the dumped vacuum cleaner. They were in pieces and the $400 in coins were all gone... almost. First Coast News found one coin in the dirt next to one of the machines, so it wasn't really a clean sweep.
The owner of the store said the thieves left him with about $13,000 in damages.