Break-ins plague South, Hill area

7/13/2001

Eight businesses on South and Hill avenues have been burglarized since Monday, with thieves breaking into soft drink machines and stealing cash and tools.

Many of the break-ins occurred between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. The businesses that have been targeted include:

Premier Steel, 2351 Hill, where someone climbed a 6-foot fence to reach a door that was pried open. Tools were gathered and put into a bucket and a box and left by a rear overhead door.

Fabri-Steel Supply, Inc., 2445 Hill, where $400 in tools and coins were stolen and a soft drink machine was damaged by someone who used a sledgehammer to break in.

Nickles Bakery, Inc., 2698 Hill, where a man was seen climbing into an office window. The man fled on a bicycle without taking anything.

Lott Industries, 3350 Hill, where $200 damage occurred to a soft drink machine by a man who entered the building through an unlocked door. He fled when an employee caught him trying to pry open the machine.

Underground Pipe & Valve Corp., 4212 South, where at least $136 and a roll of stamps were taken and a soda machine was damaged. Police are unsure how the burglars entered.

Sabco Industries, 4511 South, where someone broke a window and took an unknown amount of money from vending machines.

Willis Machinery & Tools Co., 4545 South, where $850 in tools was stolen by someone who pried open a rear door. Bicycle tracks led to a neighboring victim, Day & Sons Supply Co., 4565 South, where burglars ripped sheet metal from a back wall, took $30 from snack jars, and stole a van.

Detective John Rose said a break-in Saturday at O'Connell Machine, 2 North Westwood Ave., may be related. Burglars took at least $80, an undetermined amount of money from vending machines, and keys to a truck after shattering a window.