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At least four Cass County towns have been hit by a string of burglaries over an approximately 12-hour period.
Cass County Lt. Larry Burke said businesses in Weeping Water, Murdock, Eagle and Greenwood reported burglaries or attempted burglaries. A home in rural Eagle also was burglarized.
All were discovered between 5 p.m. Tuesday and 5 a.m. Wednesday.
Burke said investigators have not confirmed that any of the incidents are connected.
“Whether this is the work of one group or one individual, we don't know yet,” Burke said. “We do know that these burglaries all occurred on the same night within hours of each other in a similar style. That's a lot of coincidences.”
Burke said burglaries or attempted burglaries were committed at the Corner Cafe in Eagle, Halvorsen's Custom Paint and Restoration in Greenwood, Teri's Cafe in Weeping Water and the Bulldog Bar and Grill in Murdock.
Rhonda Halvorsen, who owns the Corner Cafe, said hundreds of dollars of food was taken but no money. The cafe's front door was badly damaged, she said, and will cost about $1,000 to replace.
“It looks like they took a crowbar and pried the lock off,” she said.
Halvorsen said the cafe will remain closed until Monday while she makes repairs and restocks her shelves. She also wants some time to get over the “terrible feeling” of having her store ransacked.
“I couldn't sleep last night thinking about them going through all my things,” Halvorsen said Thursday. “If they had just asked me for food, I would have been happy to give them enough for a big Christmas dinner.”
In Greenwood, Burke said, burglars got away with “several thousand dollars” of tools from Halvorsen's Custom Paint and Restoration. Rhonda Halvorsen said the owner of the paint store is a relative but the businesses are not connected.
No one answered the phone at the paint store Thursday.
At the Bulldog Bar and Grill, owners Adrienne and Jerry Stansell said their burglar alarm sounded at 3:15 a.m. Wednesday when someone tried to pry open the back door.
“They couldn't get in so nothing was taken,” Adrienne Stansell said.
“We're open for business (Thursday) and not letting this spoil our Christmas.”
In Weeping Water, Teri's Cafe was hit. Burke said investigators found glass broken on the front door and the lock damaged.
The owner said nothing appeared to have been stolen and estimated damage to the front door would cost more than $200 to repair.
The residential burglary occurred in rural Eagle.
Burke said there was no sign of forced entry, but the residents came home Tuesday night to find their home in disarray and thousands of dollars of property missing.
Items stolen included a laptop computer, jewelry, a digital camera, 50-inch plasma flat-screen television, a satellite receiver and many Christmas presents.
Anyone with information regarding these thefts should call the Cass County Crime Stoppers at 800-527-3699 or the Sheriff's Office at 402-296-9370.
Contact the writer:
444-1272, kevin.cole@owh.com
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