A pair of burglars stole $20,000 in tattoo supplies from a store in South Salt Lake, Utah. Local Fox News reported that the burglars “wiped out two shelves of their most valuable product, chargers and miscellaneous bottles of ink.”
The owners of the shop, called 5th Avenue Studio Supply, are Allen Record and his wife Ginger. They sell tattoo products to other artists who are currently working at a shop as opposed to the general public. The theft occurred at the end of the year, and many tattoo artists use December to stock up on supplies and get new machines. A June 2018 report indicated that Salt Lake City was the most dangerous city in America for property crime, but Record could not believe something like this could happen to him.
A surveillance camera inside the store caught two individuals entering the store. One punched a hole in the small business’s glass door, then reached in and open the latch from the inside. From there, the two burglars instantly got to work, hoods over their faces to prevent themselves from being recognized.
Record observed that it was highly likely that the two thieves had been in his store before. Instead of ransacking the store looking to take whatever was valuable, they headed straight for the machinery of the tattoo removal Utah company and clearly knew what to take. In two minutes, the burglars stole machinery which was worth $20,000 as well as other supplies.
“I just get more and more angry every time I look at this.” Record said to reporters.
Catching the Thieves
Fortunately, this story had a happy ending. As Record noted, the thieves knew where to look, which indicated that the thief was likely part of the Utah tattoo community. And while the burglars had hidden their faces, local ABC news reported that “Record realized a clear image of the suspects from when they were in the tattoo supply store the day prior to the robbery.”
In fact, the culprit had shared the surveillance video on social media, pretending to be an innocent bystander who wanted to catch the criminal. But when the tattoo artist realized he was a suspect, he turned himself in. His accomplices were still free as of the last report.
Record set up a GoFundMe to help get himself back on his feet, which raised $815 before closing. We do not know if he will be able to get all of his stolen equipment back, but the fact that the main thief was captured only a few days after the burglary is a positive sign.
