Thieves Trash Cellphone Shop In Smash & Grab Burglary

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OAKLAND PARK (CBSMiami) -- Thieves left a big mess for an Oakland Park business owner after a smash-and-grab burglary overnight.

It happened at a Simple Mobile dealer at 3800 North Andrews Avenue.

Smashing through the front glass door, two thieves were able to get away with roughly $10,000 worth of cellphones and merchandise.

"All my cases are broken, my door smashed and everything," said Uebenson Ulysse, the store's owner. "I've been here for a couple of years and nothing like that ever happened. But it's very disappointing. I spent all the money over the years trying to have an honest living and now they break into my store. Now all my stuff is gone."

Glass littered every inch of the store's floor. Not only did the crooks damage the front door, they smashed the glass showcases and overall, left the place trashed.

"They took all the high-end stuff," the distraught store owner said as he evaluated his loss. "I've always been good to the people in the community. I don't know why they would do that to me."

The break-in has other businesses in the shopping plaza on edge.

"It's very scary. As a business owner, the same thing can happen to me. Which, I know, the people are very demanding today. Whenever they can find the opportunity to grab things from other people, that's how they live," said Sedney Ettiene, who owns a store in the plaza. "I hope that the community, itself, can stand together and try to revert that."

The mobile dealer will now be spending the weekend cleaning up. Other business owners, like Pradel Papoulette from the solar panel shop next door, offered support.

"He's just trying to make a living. So I don't know why these people try to break the people's heart," said Papoulette.