CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Police are searching for a man who broke into an east Charlotte business early Friday in a robbery attempt similar to one that happened Thursday in south Charlotte.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officer Robert Fey said a man broke into the vacant business next to the Ace Cash Express on W.T. Harris Boulevard and then kicked in the adjoining wall. He said when an employee showed up to work at the Ace Cash Express, the robber confronted her and demanded money.

Police said the woman was entering the alarm code at the time and hit the panic button on the alarm system. She told investigators that when she turned around, the man was gone.

Officers said the man escaped out a rear door and fled into a wooded area. Police dogs and the CMPD helicopter were deployed to look for the robber, but he was not found.

Fey said investigators don’t know if the robbery attempt is connected to a robbery at the CitiFinancial on South Boulevard early Thursday. In that robbery, two men broke into a vacant adjoining business, broke through the wall, and then tied up and robbed a worker when he came in.

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