The owners of the Aquatics & Exotics pet store on Second Ave. hope someone has video to help identify three armed men they say invaded their home late last Sunday night – one with a machete, another with a hatchet.
Rob Boucher and his wife Hailee live upstairs of the store. He says he left the street level door ajar to take out the trash. That allowed the trio to get in.
“I drive cab and they knew exactly where my cab bag was and what it was,” Boucher says. “They went and they grabbed that and then they started packing anything else I had and then they looked inside and they were looking for the keys and they said ‘Where’s the cab keys, where’s the cab keys?’”
Boucher didn’t have the keys or the cab.
Inside the bag, though, was cash from taxi trips and money from Aquatics and Exotics, which he expected to deposit the next day. He figures it totalled about $5,000..
Boucher says he and his wife feel emotionally shaken.
“We didn’t get really hurt, that’s the important part,” he remarks. “I’m lucky they just got distracted from my wife one second. Once they pulled the machete off of me, I was able to get up and once I was up, I was fighting.”
Timmins Police confirm they’re investigating. Boucher hopes someone has surveillance camera images to identify the attackers.
Meanwhile, he says he’ll have massive sales at the store to try to make up for the lost money.
