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Apopka clinic broken into by stranger with key, management says

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APOPKA, Fla. — Owners of an Apopka clinic were surprised to see a man wandering in their doctor’s office after a call came in that a new alarm system detected a break-in.

Curiously, the man had a key, but the office manager believes the man was casing the office before the alarm went off.

Responding officers found the man, who claimed he had permission to enter.

“What he told the police officers was that he was the gardener for the area and for some reason has access to the building,” said the office manager, Patrick Murray.

But the landlord told Murray the man wasn’t a groundskeeper.

No one knows who the man is or how he got a key.

Weeks before the break-in, an Italian ice shop in the same building was burglarized. Murray worries there’s a pattern.

“We’ve got lots of expensive lab equipment, computers for different tests and just personal health information on our patients,” said Murray. “We certainly are at high-risk when anyone does enter this facility.”

Nothing was missing from the offices, which management said is likely thanks to the new alarm system.

Apopka police said they’re still investigating.

Murray believes the man may have had a key from a previous tenant, and has since had the locks changed.

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