The owners of a Fernley pawn shop are the latest victims of gun theft, after a break-in and burglary. The burglars made off with after stealing several handguns and assault rifles, totaling $13,000. Deputies were dispatched to Main Street Pawn just before 3am, Sunday morning. When they got there, they discovered someone had forced their way through a security door.
"They actually used a pair of bolt-cutters," Dan McCassie, owner of Main Street Pawn said.
McCassie says burglars worked very quickly. After breaking the latch off the security door, the burglars broke a glass door and cases to get what they wanted.
"They ran in with the padlock, and threw it to break the glass,"
About a dozen handguns were in the glass case. The burglars took five of those, along with four automatic assault rifles worth $2,000 apiece.
"I thought I was pretty secure because of the alarm systems," McCassie said. "We have a backup alarm system, bars, locks, lights on the outside of the building, surveillance cameras."
McCassie says the thieves managed to get in and out without being caught on camera that night, and it took eight minutes after the break-in before the alarm company notified the authorities. The Lyon County Sheriff's Office believes the burglars had prior knowledge of the pawn shop's layout.
"It's just showing that they're getting more and more desperate and going to harder measures to break in and steal guns," McCassie said.
McCassie says nine Fernley businesses have been burglarized in the last four months. One deputy says Lyon County's crime rate increased 39%, in 2012, and is still rising. Especially drug-related activity like meth.
"His comment to me was the reason why they stole those particular firearms, those are the sought-after firearms to be traded for narcotics," McCassie said.
McCassie thinks the burglars are Fernley locals and he's offering a $5,000 cash reward for their arrest and conviction. "This should motivate people to go 'Okay, let's solve this crime,'" McCassie said.
Main Street Pawn was closed for much of Monday for repairs. McCassie says he's going to replace his surveillance cameras and might switch to a different alarm company. He says armored doors will be installed within the next few weeks.
