POCATELLO – A local childcare center is asking the public for help identifying a person who “ransacked” its building.
The incident occurred in the early morning hours of Thursday, when someone broke a window and entered Sunshine Kids Childcare, located in the 600 block of Pershing Avenue. A Facebook post shows multiple videos and photos of the aftermath, as well as security footage of the suspected perpetrator.
Amber Pannell, owner of Sunshine Kids Childcare, told EastIdahoNews.com what it feels like when someone breaks into your place of business.
“It is kind of scary to know that just some random person came in, somewhere that we feel is a safe and secure place for children. … It just kind of shakes you up a little bit,” Pannell said.
In a 22-second clip from security camera footage, the person walks through a room and opens a window right next to two children’s play kitchen sets. The person sticks his head out the window, but then moves back inside. He then reaches down to his pants, leans against the window frame, and starts moving his hand back and forth rapidly while facing away from the security camera. It’s unclear what he was doing.
The post also includes a video of a broken window and a photo of a kitchen with food items spilled on the floor and condiment streaks on the walls. Another video in the post shows the mess in the kitchen, a hallway with clothes thrown out on the floor, paperwork laid out on the floor of an office, and a room with broken crayons on the table.
Pannell first discovered the break-in when she woke up at around 5 a.m. and checked the building’s security cameras. She found an event logged at around 3 a.m., with video of a “male figure” moving about the childcare facility.
She then found that her live cameras were not operating. She quickly called Katelyn Doop, the employee scheduled to open the facility, to find out if she had arrived yet. Doop was on the way there.
“Okay, don’t go in. It looks like somebody was there throughout the night,” Pannell recounted, saying to Doop.
She and her husband, Donovon Pannell, went to the childcare center to find that “the building had been ransacked,” Pannell said.
Pannell also found that her security system monitors had been smashed, along with the cameras. She also said that one of the cameras had been stolen.
“I think that he broke the cameras once he noticed they were there, maybe thinking that it wouldn’t show who he was. And then one camera was actually taken, and that was in the room where he was supposedly doing inappropriate things, and I think he took it with the same (thought) thinking they won’t have any evidence,” Pannell said.
At first, Pannell thought someone might have done this out of a “vendetta.”
“But we have nobody that we could think of. And then once we got the clear picture of the face, nobody … knew who it was,” Pannell said.
Doop also told EastIdahoNews.com what it feels like to have someone break into the childcare facility.
“It’s just terrifying because that’s our place. It’s where parents are supposed to trust us and just trust that we’re going to keep their babies safe,” Doop said.
Pannell wanted to make it clear to parents that keeping their children safe is her absolute main priority.
“I hope that my parents know that I would do whatever it takes to protect their kids,” Pannell said.
The Pocatello Police Department confirmed for EastIdahoNews.com that the break-in is under investigation. Anyone who believes they know the identity of the person in the security camera footage should call the detective division directly at (208) 234-6121.
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