PORT ANGELES — A 10th burglary at the end of last week is considered to be linked to an earlier string of commercial crimes in Port Angeles, police say.
A business on the 200 block of North Francis Street was broken into sometime either late Thursday night or early Friday morning, said Deputy Police Chief Brian Smith.
The power to the building was cut and money was stolen, he said. The Port Angeles Police Department by policy does not disclose the amount of cash taken in burglaries, Smith said.
“This isn’t really in the same part of town as the other burglaries, but it has roughly the same MO,” Smith said, referring to modus operandi — the method by which the crime was committed.
Many of the other businesses burglarized also had power lines cut and were burglarized in the evening or the middle of the night.
The nine previous burglaries had all been reported as of Tuesday and occurred roughly between the 300 and 900 blocks of East Eighth Street.
Although not all of the names of the businesses that were broken into could be released, the police were able to release the names of Shaltry Orthodontics, 611 E. Eighth St.; Blackbird Coffee Shop, 336 E. Eighth St.; Olympic Day Spa, 332 E. Eighth St.; Corinne’s Clipper & Style, 337 E. Eighth St.; and Viva Salon, 335 E. Eighth St.
Adam Parent, who owns Blackbird Coffee Shop with his wife, Christy, said he arrived at 6 a.m. Monday to find the back door open and the power out.
Although some items were stolen, he was not comfortable publicly disclosing what was taken.
“I came in at 6 in the morning and discovered the place open, the power meter destroyed, and that was the first thing I noticed: no lights,” he said.
“We have it really well-lit on the outside, so I noticed that there were no lights on.”
The inside was mostly not vandalized, he said.
“The only thing weird that they did was we had a jar that they filled up with orange juice and left the juice bottles on the counter,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the worst thing that happened was because they cut the power, we lost all of our food and dairy — so that really hurts.”
Parent scrambled and managed to open by 10 a.m. but said the loss of business and product was the biggest hit for the coffee shop.
“I wasn’t going to let a stupid act keep me closed; I was determined to get myself open,” he said.
The other business owners who were named were not reachable Friday.
Smith said police were suggesting that all businesses take cash to the bank every night
“It is an industry best-practice because when cash is left overnight, it can attract perpetrators like this,” Smith said.
Business owners who suspect that their power was turned off should phone the Port Angeles Police Department, Smith said.
A burglary occurs when someone enters a building with the intent to commit a crime, such as theft or vandalism. Police said damage to some of the businesses would constitute felony malicious mischief charges, too.
Anyone with knowledge about the crimes is asked to call the Port Angeles Police Department at 360-452-4545 or North Olympic Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.
North Olympic Crime Stoppers pays up to $1,000 cash reward for information leading to an arrest and filing of felony charges. Tips can be left anonymously.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
