Two Men Indicted for String of Columbia Commercial Burglaries

Two Baltimore men have been indicted in a series of commercial burglaries at 12 east Columbia businesses overnight on May 29 and 30.

Davon Alexander Jones, 18, and Sylvester Joseph Johnson, 34, are accused of smashing the glass panels on the doors of the 12 businesses, entering the stores and stealing cash. The two were .

Jones and Johnson have been indicted on multiple counts of second-degree burglary, theft less than $1,000 and fourth-degree burglary, less than $1,000. Johnson is being held on a $250,000 bond. The $25,000 bond for Jones was met in June and he was released. Both men have been ordered not to leave the state or return to any of the affected businesses.

The businesses that were burglarized were Papa Johns Pizza, Hans Cleaners, Sushi King, Dominos Pizza, Royal Pizza, La Pizza, Ledos Pizza, Comics to Astonish, Pei Wei Restaurant, Sports Clips, Max Muscle and Qdoba, according to police.

After the burglaries, business managers were left cleaning up glass that in many cases was more expensive to fix than the amount of money that was taken. The burglars were able to avoid setting off alarms on the doors by breaking the glass, rather than attempting to pry the doors open, said the business owners.

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