Kansas City locksmith caught vandalizing locks

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Joe Zwillenberg was frustrated when someone squirted glue into the door locks on two of his Kansas City restaurants, costing him hundreds of dollars in repairs.

His frustration turned to suspicion when he realized that a sticker advertising a locksmith's services had been placed on the restaurant doors a few weeks before the vandalism.

Zwillenberg decided to check his 24-hour surveillance videotapes. He was stunned when the tapes showed the man squirting glue into the locks looked a lot like the locksmith he called to repair the damage.

Zwillenberg called police.

Detectives later found 11 other businesses in the midtown area that reported glue in their door locks on the same night last month. In all the cases, a Metcalfe Key sticker had been placed on the doors, near the lock, a few weeks earlier.

On Monday, Jerry O'Neal II, 37, of Metcalfe Key, was charged with two felony counts of unlawful merchandising practices. Each count is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, said Scott Holste, a spokesman for the Missouri attorney general's office.

The charges allege that O'Neal damaged the locks on the doors of Joe's Burger Joint and Joe Joe's Italian Eatery with the purpose of repairing or replacing them for a fee.

Zwillenberg said it cost him hundreds of dollars to fix five locks on his two restaurants. His employees were late in delivering catered breakfasts the morning of the crime.

Zwillenberg said he was surprised that the man ignored 24-hour surveillance cameras positioned in obvious places to discourage theft and vandalism.

"I couldn't believe it," he said. "One of the doors even had a sticker on it that says, 'Smile, you're on camera."'