A string of burglaries, both residential and commercial, have been reported to the Leflore County Sheriff’s Department in recent days.
On Saturday, burglars struck a residence and business in two separate incidents in Itta Bena. Nothing was reported taken from the home, but the business owner reported the theft of two trailers — one for a boat and the other for a four-wheeler, according to an incident report.
In Itta Bena on Sunday, a homeowner reported that a 55-inch flat-screen television and a broken 32-inch flat-screen TV had been taken from his home. The homeowner later recovered the 55-inch TV in an alley near Mitchell Street.
The homeowner said he believed the culprit was a man with whom he had had a verbal altercation on Saturday night. The suspect was held for investigation but released without charge.
On Monday, also deputies responded to the Greenland Store on Meadowbrook Road, where thieves wearing hoods entered through a sliding glass door at the back of the building around 3 a.m.
Although security cameras footage caught the suspects in the store, it was not very helpful, Sheriff Ricky Banks said: “They’ve learned to cover their whole body; you don’t know whether they’re male or female.”
Items reported taken included $11,050 in a brown paper sack, a large box of cigars valued at $1,600 and a box of Newport cigarettes, which contains 39 cartons valued at $55 each.
The store owner said he fired two employees recently and believed that they were involved but told deputies that he did not know their real names. The case remains under investigation.
Break-ins pick up with the holidays, Banks said: “It’s always bad at Christmas time.”
• Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
