OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — The Oak Ridge Police Department is investigating three burglaries at car dealerships over the past weekend, said Lauren Gray, an Oak Ridge Communications Specialist.
The burglaries happened at Secret City Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, Ole Ben Franklin Motors and Sexton Automotive, Gray said.
"Further details cannot be released at this time because it is still an active and open investigation," Gray said in the email.
Secret City Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram has security cameras around its building. The company's Chief Financial Officer said a man walked in on Monday morning, pried the safe off the ground and walked away with more than $10,000.
"It's just a disheartening feeling, knowing that all of our transactions over the last week are just gone," said Joseph Laurent, the dealership's CFO.
Security camera footage shows someone arriving at the dealership around 3:50 a.m., Monday morning. He walked up the stairs to the accounting office and tried to open the door. It had a keypad lock. He left and returned with tools to force it open, the video shows.
"He was very knowledgeable about where our money was and where our safe was," Laurent said.
The man tried to open the dealership's safe. When it wouldn't open, he dragged it across the office, down the stairs and across the parking lot, the video shows.
Security camera video shows the man loading the safe in a silver sedan. It pulled away around 6:15 a.m.
"If we could get any help from anybody who might know this gentleman, it would be it would be really valuable to us," Laurent said.
The dealership said it would be making security changes after this incident.