Police: Autobreakings Yield Thieves Thousands in Cash, Jewelry

A pair of autobreakings earlier this week yielded thieves big dividends as they made away with jewelry and cash, according to Mauldin Police reports.

On Monday at East Butler Plaza located at 105 East Butler Road, a 19-year-old Simpsonville man said he had parked his car there for 25 minutes only to come back out and find that someone had stolen $386 in cash from his glove compartment, one report said.

The man said he went home thinking he may have just misplaced the cash, but discovered that the door lock on his driver side door had been broken, the report said. Police estimated the cost of the door damage at $250.

Also on May 20 in an unrelated incident, a 36-year-old Mauldin man reported his vehicle had been broken into in the 100 block of Brandybrook Lane, another report said. The thief or thieves in this case struck it even richer, the report indicated.

Stolen were one white gold ring with two-carat diamonds valued at $2,000, sixteen prescription hydrocodone pills, five uncashed checks in unspecified amounts, a debit card, and two credit cards, the report said.

Both cases remain under investigation.