Thief targets valley hobby shops

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - You wouldn't think hobby shops as a high-value target for thieves, but they are here in the valley. Several stores have been targeted, their windows and doors smashed, and some of the crimes have been caught on camera. The thieves are specifically after drones and remote control cars.

Surveillance video from Superstition Hobbies in Queen Creek shows a brazen criminal crashing his truck right through the front doors of the store early Monday morning.

After hitting the doors several times, he finally got inside.

"He just goes through like he's on a shopping list," said Alan Moulton.

Moulton is the store manager and says the thief made away with about $4,000 worth of drones, cars, and batteries.

"They basically cleared the top two shelves of product, luckily we had a shipment coming in Monday morning, but they took all the expensive cars and were out the door," said Moulton.

The items taken were nothing compared to the $40,000 bill to repair the front of the store.

Thieves also targeted four other hobby stores in the valley. At Drones Plus, the thief got away with $3,000 worth of merchandise.

Mark Coletti owns PJ's RC in Scottsdale, and they also were targeted. The suspect used a truck as a battering ram to smash through the back garage and made off with $3,500 worth of items.

"We're a friendly shop here just trying to do good, so now we got this... now we will try and put it back together and move on," said Coletti.

Police and MCSO deputies are looking into seeing if the burglaries are connected and are working to gather a suspect description.

If you have any information call Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS.