LA VERNE, Calif. – A burglar tunneled his way into a convenience store in La Verne, California, early Friday morning, according to police, who posted photos to Facebook showing the suspect and a hole in the wall he apparently climbed through.
Police responded to the scene just after 4 a.m. on Friday after a burglary alarm went off at the Inland Dairy Store. Once there, the officers noticed a hole inside one of the walls of the store.
The suspect in the burglary, Rudy Mindiola of Pomona, was found while he was trying to hide from officers at the store. He was detained and arrested on suspicion of commercial burglary and possession of burglary tools.
Mindiola was later released on $20,000 bond, police said in a news release.
Investigators determined Mindiola had tunneled his way into the business in order to steal, police said. Broken chips of wood could be seen around the hole in the wall at the store, with a black metal gate visible within the hole.
A still from surveillance footage shows a man with a white cloth covering his face as his upper torso and head are seen poking out of an area between two fridges at the convenience store.
An employee at the store said the suspected burglar could be seen on the floor, not walking and with his face covered, as he described the whole incident as “very strange.”
Just outside the store, officers found stolen property, some burglary tools, and a mask, police said in the post.
No other details were given by police.