Store owner uses phone to watch thief in act
By: Rebecca Turco
Email: rturco@abc6.com
NEW BEDFORD – A New Bedford store owner saw a thief in the act from his cell phone.
The security company for Grace Corner Mini Mart called owner Aman Sandhu around 1 a.m. Wednesday, reporting that an alarm was triggered. Sandhu checked his surveillance cameras through an app on his phone and saw the man ransacking the place.
Right away, he contacted police. “I called them so I could tell them the location and what the guy was doing inside,” he said.
At one point, Sandhu saw the suspect try to break outside through the front window. The man in question had gotten in through the back. “For him, it was like a jail because he was inside and couldn't [get] out,” Sandhu explained.
The suspect fled the area before police arrived, but thanks to Sandhu’s description, they found him down the road about two hours later.
Police arrested Thomas Hilderbran, 31, of New Bedford, charging him with breaking and entering and larceny.
“It's karma,” explained Sandhu. “Whatever [criminals] do, they're going to get it back, and maybe multiplied.”
Sandhu hopes his 16 security cameras help keep thieves at bay, but he has his phone in handy in case there is another break-in.
© WLNE-TV 2015
