Businesses, churches burglarized in Kalona

A string of six burglaries hit businesses and churches in Kalona Tuesday. Five were reported that morning and a sixth was reported that night. A church in the 900 block of Sixth Street and the another church in the 1100 block of J Avenue reported that they were broken into. Two businesses in the 500 block of E Avenue reported that they were burglarized. A business in the 1400 block of E Avenue was broken into, and a storage unit at Highway 22 and 14th Street was reported broken into Tuesday night.

Washington Sheriff Jerry Dunbar said his deputies responded to the break-ins and then turned the matter over to investigator Chad Ellis. Dunbar said Wednesday he had not been briefed on the burglaries. He said he was unable to disclose whether the break-ins occurred through a window or door. He said that he could not disclose exactly what was stolen from the businesses and churches other than that it was ?cash and consumables.?

?We have had an ongoing problem with break-ins in Kalona,? Dunbar said. ?We have had others this year where someone, and it appears to be kids, has stolen other items.?

Dunbar said he is not ruling out the possibility that this recent rash of burglaries is related to a wave of vandalism that befell Kalona a year ago. In late July 2010, four cars parked outside Engineered Plastics Components (EPC) had their brake lines cut, a window was broken out of a skid loader and a port-o-potty was knocked over, all on the same night. At the time, Chief Deputy Jared Schneider said the vandalism appeared to be random and that it was not directed at a particular person or group. He said there was no information that suggested the acts of vandalism were related.