Several Verde Valley communities have experienced an increase in burglaries since the new year began and are looking for the person, or persons, responsible.

At least four businesses in Cottonwood and around 12 shops and galleries in Jerome reported break-ins and theft or signs that someone tried to break in.

Several Verde Valley communities have experienced an increase in burglaries since the new year began and are looking for the person, or persons, responsible.

At least four businesses in Cottonwood and around 12 shops and galleries in Jerome reported break-ins and theft or signs that someone tried to break in.

The Jerome Police Department reports that between the evening of Friday, Jan. 16, and the morning of Saturday, Jan. 17, shop owners told officers they had their doors forced open or pried upon with entry made into at least three businesses. Cash was the target along with a number of other items.

Witnesses told the officers they saw two men attempt to get into at least one of the victim’s shops. The description of the first man is about 6 feet 1 inch tall, slender build, short dark hair with a tattoo on the left side of the neck and wearing large gauge ear piercings. The second man is described as being 5 feet 7 inches tall, medium build and dark hair, according to the reports.

The burglaries in Cottonwood occurred between Jan. 10 and 12. Again, cash seemed to be the objective. On Jan. 11 and 12, between 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 a.m., someone broke into a store in the 300 block of South Sixth Street and took $30 from the cash box. No sign of forced entry was found. The back door was closed and unlocked when the owner found the box, Cottonwood police reports stated.

On Jan. 11, sometime between 5:10 and 9 p.m., someone forced the dead bolt on the back door of a business in the 1000 block of North Main Street and took the contents of the cash register, $239, according to the reports.

Someone broke into Hobo Joe’s at 660 E. Mingus Ave. during the night of Jan. 12 and took $545 from the office, which included $300 set aside to put on a benefit dinner for Mary Stine, the daughter of a police dispatcher undergoing treatment for cancer. The amount stolen was later donated by a nearby business owner, police said.

A restaurant in the 200 block of South Main Street reported that someone pried open the front door Jan. 9, between 8 a.m. and 12:55 p.m., broke several bottles of wine and took several cases of wine along with many bottles of high-end hard liquor, according to Cottonwood’s reports.

Anyone with information about any of these burglaries is asked to call their local police departments.

Lu Stitt

Larson Newspapers