Video shows burglars tunneling into Oregon stores to steal $10K in equipment

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- Two men who were seen on surveillance cameras crawling into a Portland, Oregon business through a drywall tunnel spent as long as 12 hours inside, eventually stealing valuable equipment and personal information.

Jesse Richardson, the co-owner of The Brother's Apothecary, said the thieves broke into the local CBD tea shop on Sunday.

"This whole place was just completely destroyed," Richardson said. "He basically walked up to our doors here, broke through the glass, crawled in through one of the holes, basically destroying our office and stole a bunch of computer equipment, studio equipment sound equipment and tunneled through the drywall into our neighbor's unit as well and burglarized their unit, too."

Burglars tunneled into The Brothers Apothecary and an auto shop in Southeast Portland, February 21, 2021 (Courtesy: Jesse Richardson)

It began shortly after 1 a.m. on February 21. The surveillance cameras show a man crawling into the building; the camera tracked actions up to around 12:15 p.m.

"As soon as they got in, they kind of cased the area really quick. Found the circuit breaker, cut off the power, which did cut off some of our cameras. Then they proceed to turn this place inside out," he said. "There was broken glass, equipment everywhere, tons of paperwork stolen, personal information stolen. Our main office here was basically exploded."

But it didn't stop there.

Burglars tunneled into The Brothers Apothecary and an auto shop in Southeast Portland, February 21, 2021 (Courtesy: Jesse Richardson)

"They went into one of our production rooms where we make different bath products and actually ended up canaling through the wall and went into the auto shop next door and ended up burglarizing them pretty bad, maybe taking some vehicles and some equipment."

The thieves are estimated to have stolen more than $10,000 worth of equipment in the break-in.

The owner of the auto shop was not available for comment.

Richardson wants help from the community.

"If anyone knows anything about the cars being taken, the equipment being taken, contact PPB and let them know," he said.

The police report describes the suspects as:

• an "older man, grey hair, approximately 5-feet-5 to 5-7, 130-160 pounds, with visibly missing teeth and gaunt facial appearance"
• "5-feet-9 to 6-feet, a white male, approximately 170-200 pounds and wearing a black Raiders hoodie, a black string backpack and a black hat."

Burglars tunneled into The Brothers Apothecary and an auto shop in Southeast Portland, February 21, 2021 (Courtesy: Jesse Richardson)

"Our main concern is helping get our neighbor get his stuff back. It would be great if we can get our stuff back, too."