Thieves damage firms while cracking safe

LEHI — Police say thieves ransacked a Lehi heating and cooling company, then stole a safe from the business and damaged several neighboring businesses as they attempted to beat it open.

"In 12 years here, I've never seen anything like this, where somebody was so desperate to get what they wanted," Lehi Police Sgt. Jeff Swenson said.

Police received a call to respond to Holmes Heating, 701 E. State, at about 2:30 a.m. Monday.

The building has an alarm, but it did not go off when the burglars entered. Employees at Holmes said it was unclear Monday if the alarm had been disabled or just didn't work properly.

When they came to work Monday morning, Holmes employees were shocked by the damage they found — overturned tables, destroyed files, broken doors.

One employee, Michelle Yorgason, said the mess was about knee-deep throughout the office.

"I was disgusted, scared, nervous," she said when she saw what had happened. "Mostly, I think (the burglars) were just frustrated and furious."

Swenson estimated the damage done to the interior to be at least $40,000. "They just destroyed it," he said.

Yorgason said three exterior walls would also likely need to be replaced.

Police say the people who broke into the building also stole a pickup from Holmes, then ran a chain from the truck to the company's safe and attempted to pull it out of the damaged walls.

When that didn't work, they went to a construction site along I-15 and stole a forklift, which they used to remove the safe from the building.

The safe contained an undisclosed amount of cash and some guns from the owner's collection.

Thieves then used the forklift to break into a neighboring business and steal a cutting torch but were apparently unable to open the safe with it.

After that, they dragged the safe across the street to a Family Dollar store, propped it against a wall, and rammed it repeatedly with the forklift.

Police have not found the safe, but from evidence found at the scene, Swenson said it appeared they were ultimately successful in cracking it.

Thieves also took computer equipment from two businesses near the heating and cooling company.

In all, six businesses were damaged or burglarized. Swenson said the total cost of the incident could range anywhere from $100,000 to $150,000.

The pickup truck was recovered a short distance away. Police have no leads but are working on a list of potential suspects that includes former employees.

There is a $5,000 reward for any information that leads to a conviction.

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E-mail: jtwitchell@desnews.com