Bewildered would-be burglar nabbed after security gate foils Hemet liquor store break-in

April 25, 2021 Trevor Montgomery

UPDATED: Sunday, April 25, 1 p.m.

See Original Story below.

HEMET, Calif. — Although the suspect in this burglary case has not been identified and his age has not been released, the subject’s mother has since reached out to Hemet News who filmed his arrest and told them the person seen being taken into custody was her juvenile son.

The mother, who requested to not be identified, apologized for her son’s actions and behavior that morning, saying he had not been taking his medications and had been acting irrationally prior to the attempted burglary.

His case has been forwarded to the District Attorney’s office for consideration of prosecution.

Original Story:

HEMET, Calif. — A bewildered would-be burglar who managed to break into a Hemet liquor store was apprehended when he found himself stuck and trapped by the business’s security gate early Saturday morning, April 24.

Although the young man was able to break into the Paradise Market & Liquor store on Devonshire and Sanderson and squeeze his way through the location’s security gate, he found himself stuck while trying to exit the store with a small handful of merchandise he intended to steal.

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City of Hemet police officers were dispatched to the liquor store around 3 a.m. after a citizen called 911 and reported a possible burglary in progress, according to official radio traffic at the time.

After hearing the dispatched call, community reporters Eddie George and Laurie Cain from Hemet News arrived at the scene moments before officers and managed to film the in-progress burglary and man’s subsequent arrest from a safe distance.

Hemet police officers are seen helping an attempted burglary suspect through a set of security gates that left the subject trapped inside the business he had just broken into. Eddie George/Hemet News photos

Footage filmed by the pair and later shared to social media (which can be viewed below) showed the alleged suspect preparing to exit the business with several items in his hands. The merchandise was later described as a few candy bars and several e-cigarettes.

As the man struggled to climb back out of the store through its security gates he became wedged and stuck and was unable to exit the business, just as the first of more than a half-dozen officers began to converge on the scene.

Officers eventually managed to help the would-be burglar through the security gate and out of the business, where he was promptly arrested without further incident.

When the store’s owner arrived minutes after the man’s arrest and opened the security gate for officers, they conducted a thorough search of the business and determined that nobody else had made it into or was still inside the liquor store.

The suspect’s name and age were not immediately available.

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Contact the writer: [email protected]

Trevor Montgomery, 49, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source (RCNS) and Shasta County News Source (SCNS).

Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County-based newspapers Valley News, Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; the Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County; and Mountain Echo in Shasta County. He is also a regular contributor to Thin Blue Line TV and Law Enforcement News Network and has had his stories featured on news stations throughout the Southern California and North State regions.

Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.

Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.

Trevor has been married for more than 30 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 18 grandchildren.