PORT ANGELES — Both Clallam County sheriff’s deputies and Port Angeles police are investigating a string of four nighttime burglaries reported within about 90 minutes of each other.
“I’m not going to say they’re related, but we investigate them as if they are,” said Brian Smith, deputy police chief.
In all cases, the burglar or burglars got in by smashing windows or glass doors, Smith said, and rummaged through offices and cash registers looking for money.
“We discovered them in about an hour-and-a-half period,” Smith said.
Cash was taken from only one business, Smith said, with an iPod the only thing missing from another.
The first break-in was reported late Sunday night at a coffee stand on West U.S. Highway 101, Smith said, in which the glass door was found smashed and the inside ransacked.
No money or property was reported stolen, he added.
Juan Martinez, an employee at Puerto De Angeles restaurant on East First Street, said police called the owners of the restaurant at about 5:30 Monday morning to report that the restaurant had been broken into.
Police arrived at the restaurant to find the front glass door smashed, likely with a rock, and a loud alarm going off, Smith said.
Whoever broke into the restaurant entered the back office and stole an unspecified amount of cash, Martinez said.
Puerto De Angeles was broken into in a similar matter about three months earlier, Martinez said, and $1,500 was stolen.
A third burglary was reported later at a cafe, Smith said.
The drive-up window had been smashed and the business ransacked, he said, though no money or property were reported stolen.
At about 8:20 that morning, Malik Atwater, owner of Colonel Hudson’s Famous Kitchen at 536 Marine Drive, said he walked into his restaurant to find the rear glass door broken and all his cash registers opened and dumped on the floor.
“It’s a drag to lose a door like that, plus it takes weeks to get it fixed,” he said.
There was no cash in the registers to steal, Atwater said, though whoever broke in also rummaged through the restaurant’s office and stole his iPod.
Atwater said his restaurant had been broken into twice before about a year ago, with a different back door broken but only a pack of cigarettes stolen.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.