Employees apprehend alleged burglar at Garden City business

A Meridian man was arrested Friday night after employees of a Garden City business found and detained him inside the shop on Sawyer Avenue, according to a Garden City Police Department press release.

Andrew David Middleton, 26, faces felony charges of burglary and malicious injury to property.

According to the release, employees of a business on the 5200 block of N. Sawyer reported a burglary in progress around 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The employees had just returned to the business, which was closed and locked, to find an unknown adult man, later identified as Middleton, inside. The employees, who were not identified, detained Middleton and held him at the store, which was also not identified, until police arrived.

According to police, Middleton appeared to be under the influence of some kind of controlled substance and had forced entry into the business through an exterior door. They said several doors inside the business were also forced open, and a multitude of business tools had been moved from shelves and gathered together. Several electrical breakers had also been removed from the business’s electrical panel. In all, employees estimated the damage at several thousand dollars.

GCPD Lt. Abe Blount commended the employees for their bravery in stopping the crime, but warned that confronting burglary suspects can be extremely dangerous.

“We were fortunate that (Middleton) did not attempt a confrontation with the employees in this incident and surrendered without resistance,” Blount said in the release. “These are dangerous encounters for the victims as well as the suspect.”

Middleton was still in the Ada County Jail on Saturday afternoon, and he was scheduled for arraignment on Monday at 1:30 p.m.

This story was originally published February 11, 2017 at 12:08 PM with the headline "Employees apprehend alleged burglar at Garden City business."