A burglar who cut through a common wall at a Rancho Mirage medical marijuana dispensary and took an undisclosed amount of pot and cash before dawn Tuesday was later arrested in La Quinta with some damning evidence, sheriff's deputies said.
John Schiavone, 29, of La Quinta, was arrested on suspicion of breaking into The Spot Collective at 69-730 Highway 111, sheriff's Sgt. Brad Farwell said. The burglary in a strip mall was reported about 6:50 a.m.
Just last week, he was one of two men arrested in connection to a series of commercial burglaries in the area-- and had been released on $5,000 bail on Friday, according to jail records.
For this incident, a hole was found in a common wall in a vacant business next door, sheriff's Cpl. Angel Ramos said.
"They entered the pot dispensary through the side wall -- they basically cut a hole in the wall," he said.
Farwell said the burglar broke into an ATM inside the dispensary but did not say how much cash was taken.
Deputies later arrested Schiavone in the 52-600 block of Avenida Alvarado in La Quinta, and items stolen from the dispensary were found in his possession, Farwell said. Schiavone was booked on suspicion of commercial burglary, possession of stolen property and committing a felony while free on bail, Farwell said.
In October, the Grasshopper pot dispensary in Cathedral City was robbed and, in June, someone tried burn down the Collective Apothecary Prescription Service dispensary in Palm Springs.
-- City News Service contributed to this report
