Music store burglarized

A brazen burglary attempt on a local music store may have gone according to plan had it not been for an early morning, once-a-year inventory count next door.

Sears employees walked into work on Mineral Avenue around 5:30 a.m. Sunday to conduct annual inventory when they found the showroom disheveled. In a back corner, behind the vacuums, they found the wall that separates Sears from Rocky Mountain Music had been damaged.

Store Manager Charlie Thomson was one of the first on the scene.

“I noticed he took the mattress and propped it up in the aisle so no one could see him from the street,” Thomson said. “He must have been hitting the wall with a sledge hammer.”

Thomson and two employees noticed the door in the back of the showroom was open with a light on in the back room, neither of which is normal. Thinking the culprit was still be in the building, Thomson called the police and closed shop. The three men set a perimeter around the building. Standing out back, Jay Walter was quite surprised when he found himself fighting to keep the back door shut.

“He pushed through and started swinging a crowbar,” Walter said.

The white man, described as approximately 5-feet 9- inches tall and weighing 200 pounds, is believed to be in his late-30s to early-40s with short, salt-and-pepper hair. The man was wearing camouflage pants with a dark shirt when he ran away, crowbar and jacket in hand.

A review of the scene in Sears shows the burglar gave up on his first attempted entry point and moved to the back tool room. The burglar removed a shelf and all the items stacked atop it in an orderly fashion before blasting through drywall and cement, gaining entry into Rocky Mountain Music. Video surveillance shows the man clearly knew what he was getting into once inside the music shop.

“The guy was crawling on the floor very slowly to evade our motion detector,” Jerry Hersman, who owns with his wife, Debbie, said. “We have him on video, and you better believe we installed more security cameras already.”

Libby Police Chief Jim Smith said he was certain the burglar used Sears as an entry way into the neighboring store. Sears’ regularly scheduled inventory revealed no missing items.

“This was a little more sophisticated than we are used to,” Smith said.

Hersman said the burglar’s intent was the jewelry, which he still is assessing to determine what, if any, items are missing.

“Just look at our jewelry,” Hersman said. “Mostly our silver. I lock up all the big stuff at night. This guy was pretty smart. He was careful not to catch my system.”

Hersman took the hit in stride, calling it part of business.

“This was the first incident of this sort since we opened here about 15 years ago,” Hersman said.

The burglar knew what he was getting into, but never could have expected his plan being foiled by a once-a-year inspection.

“Karma was on my side,” Hersman said.