22-year-old in custody:

Perpetrator stole the kindergarten children’s money box

(Bild: Joseffson / Westend61 / picturedesk.com)

A drug addict from Carinthia (22) broke into a crèche and an adjoining kindergarten in Graz on Sunday. He left a trail of devastation in his search for valuables. A police dog caught the burglar. His loot: coins from the children's piggy bank. 

At around 4.40 p.m., an employee of the crèche alerted the police after she had visited her office in the afternoon and noticed a smashed window. Several police patrols then went to the location due to a suspected break-in.

Police service dog caught the perpetrator
On site, police officers discovered that a glass door had also been smashed at the neighboring kindergarten. While police patrols quickly set up external security around the building, a patrol from the Graz police service dog unit began searching the premises. With the support of an officer from the Graz-Lend police station, police officers subsequently apprehended a suspect in the kindergarten. They arrested him on urgent suspicion.

As it turned out, the suspect was a 22-year-old from Klagenfurt (Carinthia). According to his own statements, he had previously visited an acquaintance in Graz and subsequently got into an argument with him. The 22-year-old therefore only needed a place to sleep.

Kindergarten children robbed
A drug test carried out on the 22-year-old was positive. Police officers also found coins on the Carinthian, which he had apparently stolen from the kindergarten children's piggy bank. The break-in caused considerable damage to property to an as yet unknown amount, which is why the kindergarten remained closed for the time being on Monday.

The 22-year-old is already known to the police for other property crimes. He subsequently refused to make a statement and was taken to Graz-Jakomini prison by order of the public prosecutor's office in Graz. He is being held there until further notice.