JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Police are looking for a man seen on surveillance video burglarizing an animal hospital late last month.
Jacksonville police said Hidden Hills Animal Hospital in the 12100 block of Fort Caroline Road was broken into at 11:50 p.m. Dec. 28.
Police said the burglar entered the building by breaking the front window with a cinder block and tried to steal narcotics and money.
To view the surveillance videos, click here and here.
In the videos, the crook is seen pulling up in a dark sedan. He picks up a cinder block and smashes the front window, then kicks in the office door.
"I think it's just devastating that people have to go to that kind of extreme to get a couple hundred dollars," said Kristen Anderson, the animal hospital's office manager. "They literally came in, the alarm went off, they went straight to the doctor's office looking for money or drugs, and I think when the alarm started sounding, they got scared and ran."
The blinds are still broken and the floor dented from the cinder block.
It was just a few days after Christmas and Anderson said the animal hospital was packed.
"We had a pretty full load of pets in the kennel that day," she said. "Cats and dogs, and we actually had several thousand-dollar birds that were in the building."
Fortunately, none of the animals were stolen or injured.
"The worst thing you get when you get a phone call from the alarm company is that somebody's been in," Anderson said. "The first thing we think of through our mind is, 'Oh my gosh, are the pets OK? Have they taken anybody's animals? Have they taken our own hospital pets? So when we got up here and realized that those doors weren't even touched and they didn't get to that, it was really a great relief. The last thing we want to do is have to call a client and let them know that this has happened."
Anderson said she thinks a former employee was involved in the burglary because the man in the surveillance video knew exactly where he was going and what he was after.
"It's disturbing that you can't even trust those that you would consider family or a part of your team that's worked here," Anderson said.
Anyone with information about the burglar's identity is asked to call the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office at 904-630-0500 or Crime Stoppers at 866-845-TIPS.