West-end Kingston businesses suffer over $12,000 loss after break-in

Only two weeks after moving into their new shop, two local businesses have been victims of a break-in that has cost them at least $12,000 in equipment losses.

Smith Boys Coating and Line-X, affiliated businesses sharing a shop on Resource Rd, in Kingston’s west end, were broken into at around 7:22 p.m. on the night of Thursday, Sept. 23, according to owner Brad Smith, who caught the break-in on surveillance camera.

“It looks like they spent 45 minutes on the property, and were in the shop for 25 minutes,” says Smith.

The break-in is upsetting for more reasons than just the the monetary loss, Smith says. “Number one, you feel violated; number two, it’s high-end equipment that’s specialized so you can’t just go to a shelf and buy them,” he says.

Unfortunately, because the business location was so new, their alarm system was only partially activated at the time, according to Smith. “We had fire suppression activated, but not the intrusion alarm. We do now, but that’s a day late and a dollar short,” Smith says.

After reviewing the surveillance footage, Smith says he believes the suspects were driving a black Nissan Altima or a Subaru Legacy. According to Smith, the vehicle appears to have distinctive gray rims and a sunroof.

The suspects were wearing hoodies, Smith says, and both appeared to be Caucasian males in their late 20s or early 30s, with heights between 5’8’ and 6 feet.

Smith also says that one of the culprits appears to walk with a unique gait in the footage, which he hopes will make it easier for someone to identify the suspect.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact Kingston Police at 613-549-4660.