Richard Anthony Garcia-Flores
City police have charged an Ephrata man with burglarizing several offices over the weekend at the Griest Building in downtown Lancaster.
And police in Ephrata say the same man is responsible for burglaries there earlier this month at a theater and pool.
Richard Anthony Garcia-Flores, 25, of the 100 block of Church Avenue, was arrested Wednesday and arraigned on charges related to the city burglary. Charges from Ephrata police are pending.
Lancaster police said Garcia-Flores entered the Griest Building at Penn Square Friday evening and remained there after closing.
He then forced his way into several offices on various floors and lifted a variety of items, they added.
Tenants of the building returned to work Monday to find smashed windows, broken doors and ransacked offices.
Small electronic items such as iPads and laptop computers were reported stolen, along with cash and other items.
Once police identified Garcia-Flores as a suspect they began a surveillance operation of his activities, investigators said.
Police stopped him around 10:15 a.m. Wednesday in the 1000 block of North Duke Street and took him into custody. When he was arrested, police said, Garcia-Flores was in possession of an iPad that had been reported stolen from the Griest Building.
With the assistance of Ephrata police, investigators searched Garcia-Flores' apartment Wednesday and found more stolen goods, according to police.
Detective Capt. Kent Switzer said he could not discuss Wednesday night how police connected Garcia-Flores to the crime.
Police said he had been in the Griest Building on numerous occasions, but Switzer declined to comment on the specific nature of those visits.
City police Detective Toby Hickey charged Garcia-Flores with six counts of burglary and three counts of theft. He was arraigned Wednesday night by District Judge Isaac Stoltzfus and committed to Lancaster County Prison in lieu of $100,000 bail.
Ephrata police said Wednesday that they plan to file charges against Garcia-Flores for burglaries that occurred overnight Feb. 9 at Sharadin Bigler Theatre (formerly Playhouse in the Park) and at a building at the Ephrata Pool. Both are located in the 400 block of Cocalico Street.
Computer equipment, a camera and money were taken.
Ephrata police said stolen property from those crimes was located at Garcia-Flores' apartment.
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