Thieves Tunnel Their Way Into Bixby Businesses

Burglars tunneled their way through some Bixby businesses overnight Tuesday. Police suspect the thieves started on the roof and cut holes into one business, then cut more holes in the walls, trying to get into the stores next door.

And, they did it more than once.

The businesses were on the west side of 108th and South Memorial.

When you see all the holes these burglars made in the walls and ceilings, you realize, they spent quite a bit of time trying to tunnel their way to even more stores.

Lori Fullbright, News On 6: "All this was turned upside down?"
Naomi, Dawson's Nails: "Pretty much and the TV is gone."
Lori Fullbright, News On 6: "It was a nice flat screen probably."
Naomi, Dawson's Nails: "Yes, a 60 inch."

Naomi's employees first only saw the upturned furniture, the missing TV and about $500 cash missing from a charity jar. Once they walked to the back of the nail salon, they saw the real damage.

"It didn't look like this when we came in," Naomi said. "They knocked everything off, and this is the hole they cut out."

The hole went clear through to the Sally Beauty Supply store next door but is now covered with plywood, but they also made several more holes in the walls and the ceiling too.

"But there's another hole up there and more holes up there," Naomi said.

Naomi suspects the burglars came in through the roof, but left carrying her TV, some equipment and cash, out her back door.

She says it's pretty dark out behind the businesses, and we saw evidence the thieves tampered with a junction box and maybe tried to cut wires inside. The alarm scared them out of Sally's but Dollar Tree at the end of the complex got hit hard enough that they closed the store for a while.

It is a pain for small business owners and a little unsettling too.

"Kinda freaked out. Glad nothing up here, so the business is still going, but it's kinda sad," crime victim Naomi said.

Naomi believes the thieves had scoped out the complex because she says they came into the side of the alley that didn't have a camera out back. She's had her shop there for six years and says this is the first time anything like this has happened.