Police are investigating weekend break-ins at four stores where burglars took “substantial amounts” of cash.
And it’s possible, police said, that the recent break-ins are related to a long string of burglaries stretching back to last winter.
Cobleskill Village Police and State Police are probing the burglaries at Fernando’s Lounge and The Great Wall Restaurant in Price Chopper Plaza in Cobleskill and Peking Chinese Restaurant and the Napa Auto Store on Main Street, Middleburgh.
Cobleskill Sergeant Rich Bialkowski said Fernando’s and The Great Wall were apparently broken into late Friday night or early Saturday morning.
Burglars gained entry through the back doors, he said. The only damage was to the doors and the cash register at Fernando’s.
Sergeant Bialkowski didn’t release the amount of cash stolen but said it was substantial.
State Police are working on the Middleburgh break-ins but were unavailable for comment. Sergeant Bialkowski has been in touch with investigators and said the break-ins are similar to those in Cobleskill.
“It appears they’re related,” he said. “They happened the same night and the methods of entry were similar.”
Police have taken some items for fingerprinting, but Sergeant Bialkowski said they have few leads to go on.
That’s similar to a case in January 2007, when burglars broke into stores along Route 7 in Cobleskill.
Even last winter, police believed burglars stretched over a wider area.
“It’s not just this area,” Sergeant Bialkowski said. “It’s all over central New York––Otsego County, Herkimer, Rome, Utica, Oneida County. They’re all experiencing the same thing.”
The break-ins are remarkably identical: Damage only to get in and just cash stolen.
“Whether they’re all done by the same person, we don’t know,” Sergeant Bialkowski said. “But the methods are the same and what they’re looking for is the same.
“And it seems that there’s a string of burglaries in one area, and then they move on to another area.”
After the Cobleskill break-ins last January, thieves hit stores in Marcy, Herkimer and Oneonta in early February.
In July, burglars targeted a dozen stores in Schoharie, using the same methods and taking cash.
The four weekend burglaries could be linked to all of those, Sergeant Bialkowski said.
He urged anyone with information to call police. The Village Police are at 234-2923; State Police investigators are at 630-1700.