Flagler Beach Police Seeking Person of Interest in June Burglary of A1A Beverage

The Flagler Beach Police Department on Wednesday issued a search for what it calls a person of interest in the June 7 nighttime burglary of A1A Beverage, the store at 1842 Ocean Shore Boulevard. Burglars got away with cigarettes and lottery tickets. “We’re seeking assistance from the public to help us identify this individual,” the police department said in a release.

The suspect departed as a passenger in a dark colored vehicle, believed to be a Dodge Durango. (See below.)

Anyone with information about this case is asked to call Detective Liz Williams or contact Flagler Beach Police Department headquarters at (386) 517-2023. Callers wishing to remain anonymous may call 1-888-277-TIPS (8477). Anonymous information may also be sent via text and online forms to the FBPD via the Crime Stoppers website. People using Crime Stoppers could be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.

See below for the previous story.

3 Burglars Smash Doors of Flagler Beach’s A1A Beverage to Steal Lottery Tickets and Cigarettes

June 8–A1A Beverages Foodmart, the beachside convenience store between South 18 and 19 streets in Flagler Beach–next to Oceanside Grill–was the target of a burglary early Sunday morning, with three individuals suspected of stealing cigarettes and lottery tickets. But they left behind some blood drops.

A Flagler Beach police officer vwas dispatched to the store just after 2 Sunday morning. The rear door had been partially smashed in, the front door fully smashed in. Officers also found the rear door unlocked. “I observed several lottery tickets on the ground behind the store counter, and it also appeared that the cigarette case was rummaged through,” an officer reported. “A portable safe was also observed in front of the store counter on the floor.”

The officer also saw several coins on the ground outside the business, some 10 feet from the front door, and five scratch-off lottery tickets in the same area.

Owner William Leviness, who lives in Flagler Beach, later told police that he was missing three packs of cigarettes and some lottery tickets. He would contact the Florida Lottery to make them aware of the theft. Officers retrieved surveillance video footage from the business, which showed a dark vehicle pull into the parking space directly behind the store. The video then showed three white males enter the store from the back and front door simultaneously, then take numerous packs of cigarettes and numerous lottery scratch off tickets.

In all, Leviness’s inventory showed him missing six $5-lottery scratch off tickets, about 40 $20-scratch-off tickets, and 10 packs of assorted cigarette packs. But he was to conduct a more thorough inventory later.

The lottery tickets that were found lying outside of the business were dusted in attempt to locate any latent prints, so was the safe, but none of the dusting produced results. “A single latent print was located on the rear glass door, this print was lifted and will be submitted into evidence for further processing,” the incident report notes. Nevertheless, a drop of blood was found behind the counter, and blood stains were found outside the rear door, about a foot from the door.

Police also found what appears to have been the objects used to smash in the doors, including a cinder block about 5 inches high was located behind the counter next to the step-up that leads to the cash register, and a two-by-four with two wheels on it, next to the airt conditioning unit. It had shards of glass embedded in it. Latent prints were lifted out of the two-by-four.

Leviness subsequently told police that a few customers came into the store and told him of seeing suspicious activity the morning of the burglary, around the same time, including the sighting of three men pulling on car doors in the area of the business. One customer told the A1A Beverage owner that he saw three males attempt to steal a jet-ski from a residence nearby. But a canvass of the area, including four separate residences, yielded no reports of suspicious activity.