Robbery tries at local business sites
Published on September 20th, 2006
STONEHAM, MA - Stoneham Police are investigating a series of business-related break-ins and robberies over the last few weeks, which included incidents at several hair dresser/nail salons on Main Street and a robbery at Hank's Bakery.
Police officials believe each of the incidents is related because of the similarities of the crimes, where the suspects reportedly found an easy way to illegally enter the business during the late night or early morning hours, removed the cash register from its normal setting and forced or broke the cash counting machine open.
In each case, according to Stoneham Police, the suspects got away with a small amount of cash and in some cases took the cash register with them.
"They either broke open the register on the premises or took the cash register with them and then discarded the broken register in the nearby area," said Stoneham Police Lt. Rick McCarthy. "We had one report of a register being thrown out of a car window as the vehicle was traveling down Montvale, and that's something we're following up on."
According to Stoneham Police, the robberies closely mirror several incidents in the neighboring towns of Medford and Melrose, and the three community police departments are working in tandem to catch the suspects.
"One thing we would tell a business is to try and keep from leaving any cash in the drawer at the end of the workday," said McCarthy. "These suspects aren't breaking the bank by hitting small businesses, so it's obvious they're pretty desperate for even small amounts of cash."
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