Northpinellas: Knowledgeable thief breaks into rug store

CLEARWATER -- Somebody broke into a Clearwater rug store early Tuesday and stole 12 of the store's most expensive rugs from among the 5,000 or so stacked inside.

The family that owns Oriental Rug Bazaar & Antiques, which specializes in rugs from Iran, Turkey and China, says the dozen stolen rugs are collectively worth nearly $100,000. Family members believe the thieves knew what they were doing.

"These people were professionals," said Gita Dabiri, 35, the daughter of the store owner. "They came in here, got the good pieces and knew what to take."

Malouse Dabiri, 62, whose husband owns the store, said she received a call at 5 a.m. from an operator at the Check Point/Adelphia Security company telling her the alarm at the store at 924 McMullen-Booth Road store had been triggered.

"A couple of times (in the past) it was a false alarm," she said. "I thought it could be the newspaper man throwing the newspaper against the window."

But this time, someone had pried the main entrance of the store open with a metal tool and snatched the 12 expensive rugs, including a silk consignment piece worth $12,000 that was hanging in a back room.

"I don't think they stayed here more than two minutes," said Amir Dabiri, 30, who helps his parents run the store. "It was "yoink, yoink, yoink' and they were gone."

This is the second time in seven months someone tried to burglarize the store. On the evening of March 10, Clearwater police foiled a burglary attempt when an officer patrolling McMullen-Booth noticed the alarm sounding as he drove past.

Amir Dabiri said the officer drove into the parking lot of the store, scaring the would-be thief away. No arrests were made.

Clearwater police records also show that the incident at Oriental Rug Bazaar is the seventh burglary that has occurred on McMullen-Booth Road between the Drew Street and Enterprise Road since August 1999.

"If you're a victim, it's an issue of concern," said Wayne Shelor, Clearwater police spokesman. "Business burglaries are just like any burglary. They happen any time and any place. No place is immune."

Still, the Dabiris thought they had done everything they could to secure the family business.

The Clearwater residents installed bars on the windows of both entrances, four security cameras overlooking the show room and a security system rigged to sound a deafening alarm at the first sign of trouble. However, the cameras are not set up to record store activity.

Mike Dabiri, the store's owner, said the burglary may have been prevented if the police had gotten to the store in fewer than the 19 minutes it took for them to arrive -- an issue he has taken up with Check Point/Adelphia. Officials with that company did not respond to the Times' requests for an interview.

"It's tough to do business when you're getting robbed every two months," Dabiri, 62, said. "It didn't used to be like this. I don't know what's happening."

On Sunday at Sam Ash Music across the street, a $400 stereo was reported stolen. In July, the store was broken into and an unspecified amount of musical equipment was stolen.

"We're thinking about how secure our business is," said Rick Jones, sales manager. "It's disappointing because there are a lot of things we want to do inside the building that we have to put somewhere else to keep people from breaking in. It's disheartening."

Mike Dabiri is offering a $1,000 reward to anyone with information leading to the arrest of whoever is responsible for Tuesday's burglary.

"Somebody has got to be out there who knows what this guy did," Dabiri said. "Maybe they will turn him in."

Back to North Pinellas news

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright

Special Links

Mary Jo Melone

Howard Troxler

From the Times
North Pinellas desks