Owner: Robbery damages cost $200,000

PRICHARD, Ala. (WALA) - Authorities said someone attempted to fill up on more than just gas at a Prichard service station.

The owner said this is the second time someone has smashed into his store.

When store clerk Carleen Ryan showed up for her 5:30 a.m. shift at the Petro station on St. Stephen’s Road, she said was met by police.

"The store was broken into. I mean they had taken a car to try to take out the ATM machine," said Ryan. "It wouldn't move because it was bolted down."

The store owner closed at 1:30 a.m., four hours before Ryan returned to open up.

"There are two doors there. They were glass and aluminum. They were smashed in, bent in, from where they had attached, tried to take out the ATM," said Ryan.

Ryan said she went  inside and turned off the alarm system.

The owner said thieves left with merchandise but no cash this time. Last Thursday, Ryan, once again opened the store at 5:30 a.m.

"I carried on business as usual, because I know all the cameras are working," said Ryan.

But they weren't working. Ryan didn't know it at the time, but the surveillance system had been stolen.

"He had numerous monitors for security systems to monitor everything (in the store)," said Ryan.

The store owner said thieves punched a hole through the store's rear wall.

"I did not even know this was here. When she opened it up, she screamed," said Ryan.

Thieves entered a locked back-room and took a safe, the security system, and a computer.

The owner of the Petro station said both incidents cost him about $200,000. He said he had to close for three days, and his business is still down 75 percent.