Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Police search for burglary suspects

5 businesses burglarized in Ketchum and Sun Valley


By TERRY SMITH
Express Staff Writer

Sun Valley and Ketchum police are investigating a rash of burglaries that occurred this month in the two towns. The latest was committed sometime Monday night when someone broke into Leroy's Ice Cream shop on the Ketchum Town Square and stole $150 from the cash register.

On Sunday night, thieves burglarized the Sun Valley Deli in Sun Valley Village and stole two cases of beer.

A window was broken at Sun Valley Deli and someone kicked in the door to gain access to Leroy's Ice Cream shop.

Police are investigating whether the two burglaries are connected to three others—two in Sun Valley and one in Ketchum—that occurred on the evening of Aug. 9.

Sun Valley Assistant Police Chief Mike Crawford said Monday that evidence suggests that the Aug. 9 burglaries were committed by the same thieves. Video surveillance at one of the businesses caught the thieves on camera, but police haven't been able to identify the two men from the grainy and dark surveillance images.

Crawford said the Aug. 9 Sun Valley burglaries occurred at the Sinclair gas station on Trail Creek Road and at Elkhorn Springs Market in Elkhorn Village. At both businesses, the thieves broke windows to get in.

Crawford said the Elkhorn Springs Market burglary occurred sometime between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. the following morning. He said a "humidor full of cigars" was stolen and an undisclosed amount of cash from a safe that was possibly left open and unlocked. He said the building's security system was not activated at the time.

Such was not the case at the Sinclair station, where the burglar alarm went off at 11:15 p.m. Crawford said police couldn't find evidence of anything being stolen at the station and the thieves likely "got spooked and took off" when a Sun Valley police officer arrived.

However, Crawford said, the video images were taken of the suspects when they entered the station.

The burglary in Ketchum occurred the same night at Thunder Spring on Saddle Road. Ketchum Police Chief Steve Harkins said his officers were called to the scene at 1:30 a.m. Harkins said it doesn't appear anything was stolen but that a storage cabinet, cash register and credit card machine were damaged by the would-be thieves.

Harkins said video surveillance also captured images of the suspects at Thunder Spring and police believe they are the same men who committed the burglaries in Sun Valley.

Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com




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