Middletown police looking for suspects in theft of cigarettes

Middletown police are looking for two suspects who allegedly broke into a gas station Tuesday morning and stole 100 cartons of cigarettes and more than $4,000 in cash, according to a police report.

Police received an interior motion alarm at 2:38 a.m. Tuesday from Marathon gas station, 1601 Germantown Road. The front glass door was broken, police said. No one was inside the business, according to the report.

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A K-9 unit from the Butler County Sheriff’s Office tracked the suspects along Wilbraham Road for a short time, and the dog lost the scent in the 1800 block of Winona Drive, police said.

The owner of the gas station played police the security footage and it showed two men — both wearing black clothing, with winter coats with hoods — approach the building from a driveway just east of the parking lot. One man stood near Germantown Road to watch for incoming cars while the other male picked up a stack of firewood and threw it through front glass door, according to the report.

That man entered the gas station with a large plastic trash can and filled it with cigarettes.

The other man entered the store and grabbed cartons of cigarettes. He ran toward Wilbraham Road where he got into a vehicle, the video showed. The suspect with the trash can then left the store and ran toward a vehicle described as a possible dark-colored, midsize SUV.

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The store’s owner told police it appeared 100 cartons were missing along with $4,278 in cash. The cash was stored in a box in the back of the store, the owner told police.

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Rick McCrabb