FARMINGDALE — A break-in earlier this month at a Farmingdale jewelry store was the second time it was burglarized in a matter of 11 days.
Maine State Police are investigating a July 21 break-in. Trooper Ian Dunn said the building’s power meter was smashed, a window was broken and two sterling silver bracelets, valued at $600, were stolen.
Last week, the Kennebec Journal reported that Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office was investigating an Aug. 2 burglary from Kennebec Jewelry at 501 Maine Ave. Kennebec County Sheriff’s Lt. Chris Read said the store’s owners reported that someone had broken into the business during the night and stolen jewelry and damaged several jewelry cases in the process. Read said in a Thursday press release that “well over $100,000” in jewelry was stolen.
According to Farmingdale tax documents, the building is owned by James and Carol Stevens. The Stevenses were not available for comment on Thursday.
Dunn said he sent a Hallowell police officer to respond to an alarm from Kennebec Jewelry around 2:30 a.m. on July 21. He said when the Hallowell officer arrived, one of the front windows was “smashed in.” Also, a Central Maine Power meter was damaged, and power was shut off from the business. Dunn said the alarm system had a backup power source and was activated.
Dunn said he spoke with Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office officials about the burglaries. He said the break-ins were not conducted in a similar manner, noting that in August the siding on the back of the business was “peeled back” by burglars and entered through the wall. Dunn said he couldn’t “hypothesize” a connection between the two incidents, but two break-ins in a month “seems like a coincidence.”
Dunn said the store does have security cameras, but he has not been provided any footage from them. He said the owners told him that the cameras were not operating because the power was cut. When asked if the cameras should have had a backup like the alarms, he said he figured they would unless this burglary “was a perfect storm of events.”
“It doesn’t sound like we’ll be able to get interior footage,” he said Thursday.
Dunn said State Police are still investigating the break-in. He said he took “blind swabs” for DNA on items the burglars may have touched and those have gone in for testing. If those don’t return sufficient evidence, he said he would likely meet up with Kennebec County Sheriff’s investigators to compare notes.
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