Posted on 04/09/2013 1:27:26 AM PDT by grundle
OROVILLE (CBS13) – After a string of burglaries at his Oroville store, a fed-up business owner fought back to catch the crooks.
Darin Fowler says he camped out at his business and confronted the burglar.
“This is my property; I’m going to defend it,” he said.
Over the past three months, Fowler says he’s felt pretty defenseless.
“They were taking chain saws, weed eaters, lawn mowers. They would remove complete generator heads off generators,” he said.
Fowler says burglars cut into the fence of his business, Air Cooled Unlimited, 15 times and made off with valuable equipment and metal.
“They had actually cut this all the way down, and zip tied it open, spread it right open,” Fowler said, showing CBS13 the area of the fence the burglars cut through.
Fowler spent money installing new fencing and surveillance cameras, which caught the suspect’s blurry images. Still, they’d keep coming back.
So when Fowler saw a new hole in his fence Friday, he decided it was enough.
“That’s when we decided we were going to stick around and see if we can catch them,” he said. “We were actually sleeping on the concrete right behind the shop.”
Around 3:30 a.m. Saturday, they heard a noise.
“They were yanking units through the fence,” said Fowler.
With a concealed weapon permit, Fowler pulled out his gun.
“As soon as he saw the gun he was very compliant,” he said.
Fowler ordered the suspect, Dillon Masterson, to the ground, said Police. Masterson He dropped to his knees, and within two minutes, an officer took him into custody.
Officers searched Masterson’s home and allegedly turned up a number of items from Fowler’s business, says Fowler.
Police also arrested Steven Rodrigues in connection with the thefts.
“Two-and-a-half months of seeing this guy on video, and I finally caught him,” said Fowler.
For Fowler, it’s a win. And despite the possible danger, he says he’d do it again.
“It was almost closure because now we can relax a little bit now and get back to work,” he said.
Police say Masterson was out on bail at the time of his arrest, and was also in possession of drugs.
Hmm...out on bail, committing theft AND in possession of illegal substances.
Doesn’t California have “three strikes and you’re in prison for life”?
It took this guy 15 break-ins to finally decide he’d had enough?
I would have done what he did after two times. At least he finally did something about it.
And how dumb are the perps? Complacency is not a good idea in the theft business.
There is no entrance exam to a life of crime
When each sentence of an “article” constitutes a paragraph, you can be sure it was written by someone who doesn’t read.
So, did he wrap the permit around his hand and use it like a glove or did he roll it up and loop it through the trigger guard and pull it out?
So, did he wrap the permit around his hand and use it like a glove or did he roll it up and loop it through the trigger guard and pull it out?I've to confess, Right Wing Assault, I skimmed more than read the article, so I didn't notice that. I've just now noticed the source: a television station in Sacramento. All is suddenly explained: somebody with a California education was trying to write intelligible English.
I can't tell you how much trouble I had trying to find copywriters and proofreaders when I lived in Silicon Valley. When an aspiring copywriter's resume and cover letter contain the larger part of a dozen grammatical howlers, misusages, spelling and punctuation errors, and stylistic lapses, you wince and grimace and shake your head. When an aspiring proofreader's resume and cover letter are no improvement upon the aspiring copywriter's, you think to read it aloud for giggles and grins, only to realize you'd have to explain the deficiencies to everyone in the company.
Then-
...you think to read it aloud for giggles and grins, only to realize you'd have to explain the deficiencies to everyone in the company.
That's the truth! I'm sure the generation raised on text messaging will be SO much better. ;-) CU LTR 4 SHO!
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