WILMINGTON — Early Wednesday morning there was a burglary at A&W Family Restaurant and an attempted break-in at the Wilmington Town Youth Center — two incidents that add to an already alarming amount of crime in the area.
“There’s been a rash of these burglaries in town,” Wilmington Town Supervisor Randy Preston said Wednesday. “It’s very distressing ... a really serious problem.”
Preston said that the citizens of Wilmington and neighboring areas need to be vigilant about alerting state police if they see anything or anyone suspicious.
“Normally this sort of thing is unheard of here but it’s becoming very concerning,” Preston said. “We’ve had burglaries at the Candy Man, the Visitors Bureau and now the youth center ... and several of others in the surrounding area.”
Frank Scsigulinsky, owner of A&W said he came into work early Wednesday morning, around 8 a.m., and found that the door was unlocked.
“At first I thought someone had just forgotten to lock it, but then I looked behind the counter and saw that the place was kind of a mess,” Scsigulinsky said. “Then I went into the office, looked down and saw that the safe was gone.”
Along with the safe the suspects “jimmied” open the cash drawers and all told took about $2,000, according to Scsigulinsky. He said they broke in around 2 a.m., which was only an estimate.
Around the same time Michelle Hozley, director of the Wilmington Youth Center, said she received a call at her home from a security alarm system company that there had been a break in at the youth center.
“They said the alarm was tripped at 2:12 a.m.,” Hozley said. “I woke up my oldest son, and we went down there to take a look and wait for the police. When the police got there they thought it may have been a false alarm, but then, with the other burglary, it didn’t seem likely.”
Hozley said the suspect hadn’t entered the building, but there was minor damage to the exterior.
According to Preston, the youth center had been burglarized “about a year ago” when roughly $1,000 dollars worth of property was stolen.
“After that happened we decided to equip all the town buildings with new alarm systems,” Preston said. “It’s seems like it paid off in this case.”
According to Inspector Scott Hite of the state police, forensic units had been on scene to search for any physical evidence, but he declined to comment on any specific cases.
“These investigations are on going,” he said. “We’re doing all that we can right now.”
He also said that burglary calls have been coming in very steadily, and that “it was an ongoing problem.”
Just last week Michelle Burns, director of the Whiteface Mountain Regional Visitors Bureau, said she discovered that the visitors center on state Route 86, had been broken into on Tuesday, June 29 when she came into work.
“They had broken into a back window,” she said. “I’m not sure what they thought they would find here — they ended up taking some loose change and a digital camera.”
There have also been several burglaries of residential homes in the area such as that of Diane Kirby on Saturday, July 3 in broad daylight.
“People say this kind of thing never happens here, but it does,” Kirby told the News Wednesday. “As a town, we’ve got to do something.”
Kirby, who lives on Springfield Road in Wilmington, said her son and husband had left their home on Saturday, July 3 to attend the Fourth of July parade in Jay.
Her husband and son had come home early from the parade to find that the house had been broken into.
“When my husband called me to tell me what had happened I couldn’t believe it,” Kirby said. “I couldn’t even comprehend what he was saying to me.”
In a letter sent to the Jay Community News website on Tuesday, July 6, Kirby listed the items that were stolen: A tri-colored (yellow, rose, white) gold necklace and bracelet set with a very distinctive design, about 18-20” long; a man’s wedding ring, a pair of Oakley sunglasses, an Ipod, a laptop computer in a black case, and a ladies diamond ring with a one carat solitaire surrounded by small diamonds.
She also said the suspects had tried to get into the family’s safe but were unable to do so.
In the letter Kirby also said that her family was so “incensed” that they are offering a $1,000 reward for anyone who releases information leading to the arrest of “these creeps.”
“Some people are afraid that if we speak up the bad guys are going to come back,” Kirby said. “But you can’t be afraid. We have to take a stand ... enough is enough.”
Kirby also said that police need help from the area’s citizens.
“The state police are stretched so thin,” Kirby said. “That’s part of the reason I’m offering this reward. If that $1,000 helps bring the skunks out of the woodwork then that’s great. You just can’t look the other way. We’ve got to band together.”
Kirby also said that the problem has stretched to the surrounding areas of Jay and AuSable.
Tony Sinopoli said his house on Jay Mountain Road was broken into several weeks ago. He also said they discovered that the house had been broken into on Friday, June 17 and that the break-in had most likely occurred “within a day or two of that night.”
“The window was blown right open,” Sinopoli said. “They threw and axe through it.”
Sinaopoli said the suspects stole two PCs with web cams and a whole slew of household tools — “everything down to my kids fishing pole.”
“We’re still finding things that are gone,” Sinopoli told the News Wednesday.
What troubled Sinopoli the most was that the suspects had cut the DSL and power before they entered the house.
“I had cameras for surveillance, and they were clearly aware of that before they entered,” Sinopoli said.
He said police said they had a couple of leads but didn’t have enough concrete information.
There’s plenty of nosey people in the area,” Sinopoli said. “I’m sure someone saw something.”
If anyone has information about any of the burglaries, they should call the state police at 897-2000.
