Report: Seaside Heights compensates store ransacked during Superstorm Sandy

When volunteer firefighters in Seaside Heights broke into a military surplus store during Superstorm Sandy, borough officials said they did so to get supplies critical to ongoing rescue operations.

But items including Elvis and Betty Boop plates, GI Joe statues, Swiss bayonets, handbags, comic books, and golf balls also went missing from Shore Army Navy, the Star-Ledger reports. 

Seaside Heights officials say the firefighters only took rescue supplies, and that looters might have taken other items after the firefighters had left.

The borough recently paid the ransacked Hamilton Avenue store $185,000 in compensation for the missing items. 

“The town made it as right as it could under the circumstances,” store owner Ted Domaracki told the newspaper. “We’re thankful the store is back open. We’re thankful business wasn’t as bad as it could have been this summer.”

Agents from the FBI and the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security previously visited the borough to inquire about the incident, the newspaper reported last month.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.