200-pound safe stolen from N.D. restaurant

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Somebody picked up some serious after-hours carry-out from a Papa John's Pizza store here, making off with a large safe with everything in it.

The first employee to show up, about 10 a.m. Monday, discovered the safe missing.

Store employees said the steel safe weighs about 200 pounds, said Grand Forks Police Sgt. Tom Laughlin. "There were drag marks from the store out the back door."

Investigators are checking out footprints behind the store, eliminating employee prints. From the size and weight of the safe, it would seem the burglars had to have a vehicle very near.

"From the way they had to drag it across the floor, they probably couldn't drag it across the street," Laughlin said. But the melting snow and ice makes tracking more difficult, he said.

Stephen J. Lee is a reporter at the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald, which is owned by Forum Communications Co.