A series of burglaries have taken place across Owensboro salons and boutiques since mid-June, with several break-ins taking place over the last week. At least six different businesses have reported similar burglaries where a suspect broke a window of the storefront and stole cash or items of higher value.
So far, no suspect has been identified, but Owensboro Police Department Public Information Officer Andrew Boggess said detectives have reason to believe these incidents are related.
“The stores that have video show us it could possibly be the same individual committing these crimes,” he said.
Stores and salons that have been targeted include several that are located on the south end of the city, including All About You Salon & Spa, Allure Salon and Lavish Hair Studio — all located on Salem Drive — and Visions Salon & Spa, which is located on Carlton Drive.
Studio Slant, a boutique, and Serenity Place, a hair salon, were also among the burglarized stores, but are located at Emory Drive and Tamarack Road, respectively.
While All About You and Allure were broken into on June 16 and 15, the rest have been broken into this week. Studio Slant and Lavish Hair Studio were both targeted on Monday night, while Serenity Place was burglarized Thursday night.
According to Boggess, each store’s glass exterior was broken during the separate burglaries, and each incident occurred after stores were closed.
Bethany Norris, manager of All About You, said her store was broken into the day after Lavish reported a burglary in the same area.
“They told me ours was the only place they were able to get fingerprints,” Norris said.
The crimes have varied slightly in that some have reported cash stolen from registers, while others have reported nothing stolen at all. Thursday’s burglary at Serenity Place reported nothing was stolen, while Monday’s burglaries reported cash and checks stolen in the amount of $1,248.49 from Studio Slant, and $200 cash and a cash register were reported stolen from Lavish Hair Studio.
Other salons have reported contents and cash stolen in the amounts of $50 and $272.63.
“We are encouraging business owners to be wary of leaving anything valuable in sight [after closing]. Cash and any types of electronics, especially,” Boggess said.
OPD posted surveillance video from one of the stores to their Facebook page on Thursday, and is asking anyone with information about the male in the video to contact Detective Champion at 270-687-8890 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 270-687-8484.
