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Drywall dust possible clue in liquor thefts
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
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When Charles County police tracked down the man they suspected of crashing his truck through the front doors of two liquor stores, he still had drywall dust on his clothes, court papers allege.
Sheriff's officers had reviewed security footage that showed a man on March 2 backing his white pickup into Lady's Liquor in La Plata and Green's Wine and Spirits in Bel Alton. At Lady's Liquor, the truck shattered the front door, and at the Bel Alton store the vehicle damaged the building and knocked about 200 liquor bottles from shelves.
The truck's driver, a man wearing a black ball cap and blue jeans, snagged cigarettes and alcohol from Lady's Liquor and more liquor from Green's Wine and Spirits, the court records indicated.
"He just wanted to grab and go," Jay Jhala, a manager at Lady's Liquor, said of the man in the security tape. Jhala said the intruder took whatever he could fit in his hands and left the store "within 50 seconds."
The damage was estimated to total more than $500 at both Green's Wine and Spirits and Lady's Liquor.
On March 2, police were also called to White Plains Wine and Spirits, where they found the glass front door had been cracked, charging documents stated. Investigators believe that someone tried to break into the building by throwing some auto parts found on the store's walkway.
Sheriff's officers later discovered a white Chevrolet pickup in front of the Thunderbird Motel in Newburg.
The truck had rear-end damage and investigators matched pieces of brick and mortar found on the pickup with the damaged wall at Green's Wine and Spirits, according to court papers.
In the pickup, police also recovered a box for auto parts similar to the ones found at White Plains Wine and Spirits, charging documents alleged.
Jeffrey E. Niel, the truck's owner, wouldn't open his motel room door for police, court documents reported. When the motel manager let officers into the room, they found several bottles of liquor, some of which had Green's Wine and Spirits tags. Police also discovered clothes, covered in drywall dust, resembling the outfit worn by the man in the video surveillance, according to court records.
Niel, 34, of Honeypath, S.C., was recently indicted on charges of second-degree burglary, malicious destruction of property valued at more than $500, theft of less than $500, attempted second-degree burglary and malicious destruction of property valued at less than $500.
