Thief burglarizes House of Mercy thrift store in Manassas

MANASSAS, Va. - A faith-based Northern Virginia thrift store and food pantry is out more than $1,000 after a suspect broke in through a glass door and stole cash and coins from registers inside.

House of Mercy operates the thrift store with the goal to fund the food pantry, which donates food to those in need throughout Prince William County and beyond.

According to time stamps on surveillance video, a man broke in Saturday night and went straight for the registers, emptying the contents into the pocket of his hooded sweatshirt.

Store manager Von Barron said the suspect seemed to be familiar with the kind of cash register House of Mercy uses, but Prince William County police do not suspect the burglary is an inside job.

In addition to the money stolen, the organization will need to shell out nearly $1,000 to replace the broken door, which requires specially-ordered glass.

Barron said if the man who stole from House of Mercy was in need and would have asked, they would have taken care of him.

"If he had come in and basically said, 'Hey, I'm in need of help,' we would have probably given him more than what he got out of our registers," said Barron.

Anyone with information about the suspect is asked to call Prince William County police.