Dec. 30—Law enforcement is investigating a pair of Christmas Eve break-ins at cellphone stores in the Atlanta Highway/Shallowford Road area.

Hall County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a business alarm around 2:30 a.m. Dec. 24 at Cellfie Wireless on Atlanta Highway.

The front window of the business was smashed, leaving broken glass inside and outside the store.

Owner Mahdi Khudobahsh, who has owned the store since 2020, woke up to a number of missed calls, including from the alarm company and his neighbor. He came to the store and saw that several phones were missing.

"He got phones from everywhere, like wherever he could reach," the owner said.

Cellfie Wireless's owner described the suspect as a shorter, stockier guy, but he couldn't see his face in the surveillance footage.

The Sheriff's Office said 17 iPhones were stolen at an estimated value of $9,250, and the cost to fix the store window would be at least $3,000.

Roughly 30 minutes after the alarm at Cellfie Wireless, the alarm went off at Metro PCS on Shallowford Road, the Sheriff's Office said.

The store was also burglarized, though the Sheriff's Office is unsure if it was the same suspect.

Gainesville Police Lt. Kevin Holbrook said no items were taken in the Metro PCS case.