For Women Only burglarized, vandalized
By Gary Popp
Published in News on July 21, 2011 1:46 PM
Members of For Women Only were turned away Wednesday morning as employees and the owner made repairs to the fitness center following an overnight break-in.
An unknown number of suspects pried open the front door of the business sometime between 10:30 p.m. Tuesday and 4:58 a.m. Wednesday, then used 15-pound dumbbells to bust though a wall to gain access to the adjacent Sherwin-Williams paint store.
Little was stolen from either location, in the 2500 block of East Ash Street, but the fitness center was heavily vandalized.
Store employee Stephanie Jakubowski said the incident was "more bizarre than anything else" as she spent Wednesday at the club helping clean up the mess and sending out Facebook notifications to club members of the incident as a handwritten 'closed' sign hung on the front door.
The suspect(s) shattered a large section of the mirror that runs the length of a wall, then busted through the sheet rock, allowing entry to the storage area of Sherwin-Williams.
It appeared the suspects only riffled through drawers once inside Sherwin-Williams.
Mrs. Jakubowski said dumbbells were found in the wall, between the sheet rock, and a 20-pound dumbbell was lying on the ground with pieces of broken mirror, chunks of sheet rock and swathes of pink insulation.
What may have been an effort to darken the inside of the building during the break-in, a dumbbell was used to knock out a light in the ceiling and large, stand-up coolers, which keep an assortment of sport drinks, were unplugged.
Mrs. Jakubowski said Gatorade had been spilled on the floor in front of the coolers.
A small amount of cash was taken from the register, which the suspect(s) forcefully opened, and For Women Only T-shirts were stolen from the display racks, but only size small and medium were taken.
Mrs. Jakubowski said she and the other store employees were surprised to hear of the break-in.
"We are all just kind of dumbfounded," she said. "The Gatorade and shirts were pretty weird."
The suspect(s) also went into the office of the fitness center, but none of members' information was accessed by the burglars, Mrs. Jakubowski said.
A police report listed the total in damages at $1,900.
After repairs were made, For Women Only reopened Wednesday afternoon.