A bank and a credit union were burglarized Sunday night and money was taken from at least one of them. Police think the two incidents are the work of the same man.
Police received a call about 9:15 p.m. from a man who saw someone strange inside Wells Fargo Bank, near 700 North and Redwood Road, said Salt Lake Police Lt. Jim Coleman.
Brad Christensen identified himself Sunday night as a person who went to Wells Fargo to purchase stamps from the ATM. He spotted a man inside.
"The doors were busted open. I peered in. His head rises over the counter. We looked at each other and our eyes locked," Christensen said.
Christensen drove away from the bank, toward a nearby grocery store. He had left his cellular phone at home, so he asked a woman talking on her cell phone outside to call 911, he said.
As police were responding to the Wells Fargo call, an officer noticed the nearby Mountain American Credit Union, across the street on 700 North, also had been broken into. The Mountain America's windows had been shattered with a rock. Officers found a footprint on the counter, Coleman said.
No money was believed to have been taken, although Mountain America security was verifying that Sunday night, Coleman said.
Glass also was shattered at the Wells Fargo, although police are unsure of the type of object used to break it. Police believe the two incidents were related because of the way the glass was broken and the proximity of the two financial institutions.
"There was some money taken from the tellers' drawers, not a large amount," Coleman said of the Wells Fargo break-in. Police estimate that a few bills were taken from each teller's drawer.
Police dogs trained to detect humans combed the Wells Fargo three times but found no one, Coleman said.
The man probably left as Christensen was trying to find a cell phone, Coleman said.
The man was described as an adult male Hispanic.
E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com