25 SUVs broken into at Jim Ellis Buick GMC dealership

Police in Gwinnett County are looking for the thieves responsible for breaking into 25 SUVs at a GMC dealership near the Mall of Georgia.

The break-ins happened at Jim Ellis Buick GMC Mall of Georgia on Buford Drive in Buford around 6 am.

The dealership’s vice president of operations, Mark Frost, said there is no surveillance video, but a security guard was on the job. Frost said there was only a 25-minute window when the guard was not on duty. Police have named him a person of interest in the investigation.

Frost said thieves smashed in the windows, crawled through and stole car radios and 35 navigation systems. Officers with Gwinnett’s Crime Scene Investigation unit dusted for fingerprints throughout the moing.

"Whoever did this, they knew what they were doing because they had the 8 mm tool to remove the radios," Frost told Channel 2's Kerry Kavanaugh.

Frost said the thieves did $125,000 to $150,000 in damage. He said the break-ins particularly hurt the inventory supply, because the dealership’s cars have been selling fast. He is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading a conviction.

"Jim Ellis has 770 employees and losses like this affect us all greatly," Frost said.