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Thursday, January 3, 2008

Store Robbed of $50 Cash And Vitamins

By Lee Ross
Mountain View Telegraph
    A burglar or burglars took $50 in cash and three bottles of liquid vitamin supplements from Ann Morgan's store a few days before Christmas.
    A crowbar was used on the door of Morgan Oriental Medicine in Edgewood on Dec. 20. Morgan estimates she suffered $270 in damages.
    The three bottles of supplements are valued at $70 apiece. A set of Chinese hand exercising balls and a box of what Morgan described as "really horrible-tasting tea" were also taken.
    "I was actually glad they took (the tea)," Morgan said.
    About 4:30 a.m. the same day another burglary was attempted at Doggie's Day Out, an Edgewood pet grooming business, Morgan said.
    Both businesses are on George Court, off Old Route 66 west of N.M. 344. The door to the pet business had crowbar damage similar to Morgan's store.
    "They never got into that business," said Scott McCall, who owns the buildings that house the two businesses.
    The alarm at Doggie's Day Out may have scared the burglar or burglars away.
    Morgan said she thinks her place was burglarized first. She installed an alarm after her store was hit.
    "It just seems like there's been a large amount of burglaries lately," she said in a phone interview Dec. 27. "Hopefully (the police) will catch these guys in the act."
    Sgt. Jonathan Salazar of the New Mexico State Police, the law enforcement agency that responded to the burglary, said the agency has seen these kinds of burglaries in the area before.
    "It looks like (the burglars) are just 'smash and grabbing,'" he said. "We see that that's happening (in the area) ... at night we have one to two units patrolling that area very heavily."
    He said police don't think it's someone from the Edgewood area committing the crimes.
    McCall said the damage to the doors is such that the entire door frames will have to be replaced.
    That will cost about $850 and the stucco damage may come to $300 or $400, according to McCall.
    He said his buildings have been broken into numerous times in the past few years.
    "A couple of years ago they were stealing compressors out of the air conditioners," he said in a phone interview Dec. 27.
    McCall said those thefts came to about $4,000 in damage.
    He said he hopes the burglars are caught this time.
    "This last break-in was the first time (the police) have actually taken the time to do fingerprinting," McCall said.
    Unfortunately, no fingerprints were found, Morgan said.
    But with more focused detective work, more of these kinds of cases may be solved, McCall said. He said that's just what Edgewood may have soon.
    "I think Wal-Mart is going to bring in gross receipts (tax), which is going to create a large budget for the town to hire ... a security force," McCall said, referring to the town's new police chief and its plans to hire police.
    "I am a little fearful for my little mom and pop stores," he said. "Are they going to survive?"
    McCall owns seven buildings in Edgewood and each has about four businesses as tenants.
    Harlan Lawson, the owner of Edgewood's NAPA auto parts store who started a community watch program to keep an eye on area businesses, said his group was not patrolling at the time of the recent break-ins, probably because of the holidays.
    "We've been a little spotty in December," he said, but added that has changed since this recent incident. "(The burglary) sort of put the bug back in people."