Police in Simsbury are investigating after a group of thieves, in a stolen car, broke into two businesses and got away with an ATM and cigarettes.
Lt. Bradford Chase said the theft happened around 2 a.m. Sunday. The thieves allegedly stole a Honda Accord from a home in Rocky Hill, then were seen breaking into Mitchell Volkswagen on Hopmeadow Street.
“They did not have any success with locating what they were looking for, which we believe to have been keys for vehicles to potentially steal a vehicle,” Chase said.
The group then went next door the the Mobil, and threw a rock through the glass in the door to break in. There, they successfully stole and ATM and cigarettes.
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“They backed the vehicle up to the front of the store where the door was, in this case, as we described it, they attached a chain to it and pulled the ATM machine out,” Chase said.
The stolen vehicle was later located in Hartford with an occupant, Chase said. That person was taken into custody but hasn’t yet been linked to the thefts.
“The whole idea of trying to steal an ATM. A, I don’t think they can pull it off very often, and I wonder if they can actually get the money out when all is said and done,” Mark Homan, of Canton, said.
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Residents in the area said they’re tired of hearing about these thefts time after time, and worry for their own belongings.
“It’s getting kind of out of control,” Matt Bajack, of Granby, said. “For the people who are doing this, it’s like, you gotta figure out some time of income cause it’s just scaring residents.”
In neighboring East Granby, one business reports having tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment stolen over the years.
“The last time was mowers. We had our cat converter stolen off our truck I think last year, three years ago they broke through the front door and stole chainsaws and blowers right off the shelf, so a little bit of everything,” said Scott Lennon, manager at R & R Power Equipment of New England.
Lennon said the most recent theft was in October when thieves stole a few mowers in the early morning hours. Surveillance video caught them pulling up a box truck to haul the items away.
“They cut the lock in the back,” he said, “then drove what looks like a 24-foot box truck in the back of the building and were loading up mowers back there.”
He’d like to see harsher penalties to deter thieves from being so brazen.
“We need more punishment; we need them to be held accountable,” Lennon said. “That’s the thing, I think a lot of them get slapped on the wrist and let go, and there’s no penalty.”
Police recommend businesses install alarm systems with glass break detectors and have working surveillance cameras. For shops with ATMs, Chase said it’s best not to keep large amounts of money inside, and to bolt it to the ground.
For residents, he recommends that vehicles stay locked without keys inside or valuables.
