Police investigating several downtown Burlington break-ins


Police investigating several downtown Burlington break-ins

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Since mid-December, downtown Burlington businesses have been reporting a rash of burglaries, and Burlington police say the investigation is ongoing.

“When we start getting a series of burglaries, they keep happening, and often we see repeat offenders committing those burglaries,” said Sgt. Michael Beliveau of the Burlington Police Department. “So until we can figure out who is doing those burglaries, they’re going to continue.”

The clothing store Whim and adult store Good Stuff are two of the small businesses on Church Street burglarized Christmas night.

Good Stuff’s security camera captured a few pictures of the person who smashed their window and climbed inside. The person took what Good Stuff’s owner says is just a small amount of change and broken credit card machines.

”I mean the whole thing is kind of sad, but hey, I have my family they all helped me do it. I told them we’ll probably never remember anything about this Christmas other than that break-in and how we were all there at one o’clock in the morning fixing the window. That was the good part of it,” said Tom Massey, the owner of Good Stuff.

Over at Whim, one window was shattered, but the perpetrator couldn’t get inside.

Regardless of the break-ins, retail stores still say they’ve had a successful holiday season. “It was a bummer though, the day after Christmas we were definitely bummed, but it was still a good Christmas season downtown I would say,” said Ava Lavoie, a manager at Whim.

Burlington Police say they are using security cameras and other tactics to track down the person or people who did this, and they suggest all businesses take the usual precautions.

“Just general deterrents whereas you have additional lighting in the area, security cameras, alarm systems. We always encourage that stuff,” said Beliveau.

Police would not provide Channel 3 News with an official report, despite multiple requests.

Now, businesses fear these overnight break-ins are just the beginning, as the Burlington Police Department prepares to slash the midnight shift, leaving city streets without a patrol from 3 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.

Copyright 2021 WCAX. All rights reserved.


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