Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Dave Bates
SARDONIC SMILE — Jack Dobbins points out the broken window where he operates his repair business on Court St. He said he was smiling because it took so much time to prepare to steal something in the middle of night and get a TV that doesn’t work.
By Elna Seabrooks
Staff Writer
HOULTON — A broken TV was the only loot for alleged thieves who could be candidates for one of those “World’s Dumbest” type shows.
For now, wood is replacing one of the windows in the entryway of Jack’s TV Repair on Court St. since the break-in last week that was essentially for naught. The alleged thieves made off with a TV that does not work and needs a $200 part — not including fees to ship it from China to the U.S.
Carolyn Crandall, the Houlton Police Department detective working the case, said the department is following leads and has possible suspects.
Jack Dobbins, owner of the repair business, narrowed down the time of the alleged break-in and theft between 3 and 6:30 a.m. when he got a call about what had happened. “The window was okay at 3 a.m.,” according to Dobbins. He said his daughter observed the front of the building at that time upon entering her apartment. She called her father after she looked around to see why her apartment was so cold a few hours later. That’s when she discovered the broken window.
Dobbins has a few theories about the theft of the 32-inch Protron LCD flat screen TV. “Whoever did it, they’ve been here and cased the joint three times because they came with the proper tools. And, there had to be two of them because one of them held the glass while the other one snapped that corner off.” He pointed to the lower right hand section of the window where the glass was missing.
The quarter-inch thick glass was framed in by metal and Dobbins said a hammer and chisel could have been used to pry up the casing. “And they had to be wearing gloves. They took everything with them. They took all the pieces of glass.”
The TV is worth about $500 new, according to Dobbins. He estimates that the window repair is going to cost the landlord several hundred dollars. Later that morning the broken window had been covered with plastic. By sundown, the thick remaining glass had been carefully removed and wood was up in its place.
Another irony in the case. The set in for repair, across the street from the courthouse, was owned by a lieutenant in the Sheriff’s Department.
Crandall said possible charges in the case are theft of a TV, criminal mischief for damage to the store and burglary for the break-in.
