Son charged in family business break-in

An employee who is the son of the owners of Collier’s Family Restaurant on West First Street was arrested and booked into the Clark County Jail, suspected of breaking into the business early Thursday morning.

Daniel Collier, 41, was arrested Thursday at his Springfield home, charged with felony counts of safe-cracking and breaking and entering, according to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.

After responding to an alarm at the restaurant around 1:30 a.m. Thursday, deputies said they found a rear window broken out but no one inside. It appeared someone had used a brick to break out the window and gain access to an office inside. The person also dragged the 500-pound safe into another room, but wasn’t able to open it, deputies said.

The owners were able to access the surveillance system and identified the suspect as their son, Collier. In the video, he crawled around the restaurant — apparently trying to avoid setting off the system’s motion sensors — but did not cover his face, said Lt. Chris Clark.

Collier’s parents told detectives their son tried to steal money before, according to the incident report.

Collier pleaded not guilty to the charges during his arraignment in Clark County Municipal Court on Friday. His bond was set at $5,000 but he must only post 10 percent of that to be released. His family declined to comment on the case.

Clark said the case is still under investigation, but shows that, unfortunately, people can never be too trusting.

“Everybody wants to trust their family, and it’s hard not to have that trust and faith in your family, but it can happen,” he said.

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