Man nabbed naked, asleep in burglarized tanning salon

STAUNTON –

A man was arrested Saturday morning in connection with a series of break-ins at businesses on Statler Boulevard that caused extensive damage, police said.

Joseph Carl Bryant, a 31-year-old man with no fixed address, was detained after he allegedly shattered windows and broke into both the Federated Auto Parts Warehouse and Rayz Tanning at the Statler Plaza Shopping Center, and also damaged a vehicle in the parking lot.

Bryant was charged with two counts of burglary and three counts of felony damaged property.

The incident occurred in a largely empty section of the shopping center.

"It looks random," said Staunton Police Officer Joe Siron, who was on the scene, "but it's still under investigation."

Siron said the incident began with Bryant using a folding chair to smash the windshield and windows of a red and white Chevy S10 pickup. He then allegedly ransacked the interior.

Police said he then shattered the windows of the auto parts warehouse, entered it and swept inventory off the shelves, before moving to the tanning salon, where the most serious damage occurred.

After securing the auto parts store, officers checked all the other businesses in the plaza and found Bryant inside Rayz, naked and asleep in one of the tanning booths.

"He had apparently gone in all 18 tanning rooms, and left clothes in four of them," said Rayz owner Scott Miller, who was on the scene with his family members and employees.

Miller said he got a call around 9 a.m. alerting him to the incident, and arrived to find the place turned upside down.

"He took spray solution and dumped it on the floor, and there are peanuts everywhere — he must have been eating them," Miller said. "Oh, and his underwear is still in room 5."

Nothing appeared to be taken, just destroyed, police said. The cash register and its contents were untouched.

Miller and his crew were spending the day cleaning up the mess after officers finished processing the scene, he said.