Burglary of a Tulsa business nets arrests of juveniles

A concrete wall was no match for a couple of 17 year-olds with sledgehammers. <br><br>But then, again, the 17-year-olds were no match for a high-tech security company. News on 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright

Monday, March 10th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

A concrete wall was no match for a couple of 17 year-olds with sledgehammers.

But then, again, the 17-year-olds were no match for a high-tech security company. News on 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright explains how the two young men got caught early Monday after using a unique method to break into a Tulsa arcade.

Cleaning up the mess and stuffing the holes with concrete pieces is about all the Fun House in south Tulsa can do, other than open for business as usual. Greg Scales, Fun House co-owner: "It's frustrating, but, you just fix it and go on. I'm not going to worry about all the bad people, just take care of the good people and go on."

A couple of teenagers had the bright idea to use sledgehammers to break into the Fun House by knocking holes in the concrete wall that leads into the storage room. Plywood now covers the hole from the inside. It might've seemed easier to just break out the plate glass windows, but maybe the teenagers thought the alarm company would hear that. What they didn't know was the walls were listening too.

The store is monitored by the Sonitrol security system that uses a unique audio system to detect intruders. So, an operator monitoring the store could hear the banging on the building and even the bad guys inside. With proof someone was inside, police could hurry to the scene where in this case, they caught the burglars after a short chase and recovered the stolen cash.

Greg Scales: "They got almost all our money back." Lori "How much did you lose?" Greg: "Three dollars." The crooks might get points for a creative approach, but the alarm company and Tulsa Police, get double points for stopping them in their tracks.

The Fun House is open for business and the wall will be fully repaired Tuesday.