Reading police arrested a man after they say he used a pickaxe to break the pane glass front doors to two city convenience stores 30 minutes apart, apparently over frustration that he lacked funds to buy cigarettes and gas.

Moises Samuyo Aguilera, 49, no permanent address, was committed to Berks County Prison in lieu of a total of $10,000 bail to await a hearing following arraignment Tuesday night before District Judge Michael Kauffman in Reading Central Court.

Samuyo Aguilera faces charges of burglary, criminal trespassing, criminal mischief and possessing an instrument of crime as a result.

According to police:

Police were dispatched at 11:35 p.m. Tuesday to Turkey Hill Minit Market, 501 Spring St., on a call from a store employee who said a man was smashing store windows.

The employee said the doors to the store were locked at 11 p.m. nightly, with business conducted through a window during the overnight hours. She was in the employee section in the back when she heard three loud banging noises followed by shattering glass. She grabbed a phone, called police and left the store through an emergency exit.

An officer reviewed store security camera footage that shows a man later identified as Samuyo Aguilera getting out of a silver car and proceeding to pull the the entrance door handles.

Finding the doors locked, he went to the back of the car and got a pickaxe. He swung the pickaxe multiple times at the door, breaking the glass.

Samuyo Aguilera entered the store, walked behind the counter, grabbed two packs of cigarettes and left.

After reviewing the footage to obtain a description of the burglar, Officer Dylan Humlhanz was leaving Turkey Hill when he was dispatched to the Sunoco at 719 Spring St., about two blocks away, for a similar incident involving a pickaxe.

Humlhanz pulled up and spotted a man out front near the gas pumps. The man appeared to be the same person he saw in the Turkey Hill footage moments earlier.

Behind the suspect, the glass pane doors to the establishment were shattered.

He took the man, later identified as Samuyo Aguilera, into custody.

A worker in the store said Samuyo Aguilera first arrived about 10 p.m. He left and when he returned just after midnight, he re-entered the store and said he needed gasoline for his car but didn’t have any money.

The worker told him that he couldn’t allow him to fuel up his car without payment. Samuyo Aguilera left the store, went to his car and retrieved a pickaxe that he used to shatter the pane glass of the front doors as customers were inside.

Police found multiple pickaxes and garden and industrial tools on the back seat of Samuyo Aguilera’s car.