Approximately $50,000 worth of products were stolen from One Bite Technology on May 22 when three thieves broke into the store.
Jeff Baker, owner of One Bite Technology, said at 4:07 a.m., the three thieves arrived at the building and canvassed the area before driving around to the front of the building in a stolen vehicle from Edmonton. At 4:28 a.m., they broke into the building using a crowbar.
"One of the guys is huge, and he's got a crowbar, and he just wham, wham, whams on the door. So they get inside pretty quickly," said Baker, explaining that once they got in, they started working on bringing down the gate.
"So, then they were in, and he smashes, smashes, smashes, and the other guys start working on that one [display case]. So they immediately went for the glass displays that held the devices, and they ignored everything else."
He said while there are security cameras in the store, they did not get an image of the thieves, as they were fully masked. Baker also said the cameras using Wi-Fi cut out during the robbery, but not the ones he has wired into the building. He suspects the thieves were using a WI-Fi blocker.
"They were fully masked from head to toe, like balaclavas and gloves, and you couldn't see anything," said Baker. "They had duffel bags, and the big guy had a recycling bin, so they just scooped and they were in and out in just under two minutes."
Baker said he found out about the break-in when he woke up at around 6:18 a.m. and received a notification from one of his security systems saying someone was behind the store counter. He said he immediately called the police to report a break-in, and realized it had happened an hour and a half before and his security company hadn't called him.
"They [alarm company] didn't call me or the RCMP, nothing happened until I woke up," said Baker. He said he immediately went to the store after calling 911 and the RCMP were already there, but the thieves were gone.
The RCMP are working on the case.
Baker said he wants to make sure other businesses are aware of how they can protect themselves from break-ins and that they do happen.
"We've been pretty spoiled in St. Albert," Baker said. "Not a lot of serious crime like this and I'm sure this was organized crime of some sort. So, if anybody up here has anything else of value like we had, they need to be better prepared."
Baker said since the break-in, he has been at the store every day from around 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. until around midnight, trying to fix his security system so he can sleep a bit better at night.
He said since he is doing construction work in the store instead of his normal job, he is probably losing around $1,000 a day.
Baker said his family has supported him, but it has also affected them.
"Our kids have barely gotten to see my husband, their dad since Thursday when this happened," said Jessica Baker, Jeff's wife.
She said they are working with insurance to recoup the costs, but until then, they are paying for everything out of pocket.
Jessica said they did not know how much of an emotional and financial impact a break-in would have, and wanted other businesses to be aware.
"I just want other businesses to be aware, like we had everything in place that we felt we should, there was security film on the window and the door, there was the metal locking gate," she said. "There was an alarm system. There were security cameras. There was everything we felt we should have and still here we are."
She said they thought they had everything they needed to protect their store, but if someone wanted to break-in, they would find a way.
"We've lost our complete sense of comfort and safety that we had in our quiet little St. Albert," said Jessica.
The incident has left Jeff Baker reassessing his entire security system.
"It's all about slowing them down," said Baker. "If they want to get in they'll get in. So we're trying to create as many layers as possible."
