SOUTHWICK – Town police are working with Westfield detectives in an investigation into a series of break-ins and attempted break-ins on the Routes 10/202 corridor which occurred in the two communities during the early hours of Monday morning.
Southwick Sgt. Robert Landis reports that the first of the incidents apparently occurred at Zuber’s Ice Cream & Deli on Southwick Road in Westfield but, when Westfield Officer Matthew Preuss arrived and found a door ajar, nobody was inside and a responding key holder found nothing appeared to have been stolen.
Landis said “it looks like they continued southbound” and “over the course of a half-hour or 45 minutes” struck at a half-dozen businesses on College Highway but did not find much to steal.
“It looks like they were looking strictly for cash,” Landis said.
After the thief or thieves were apparently scared away by the alarm at Zuber’s, the next stop in the spree was apparently the Southwick Country Club where entry was not gained.
The perpetrator apparently next moved a short distance further south and gained entry to Country Auto Sales, Borgatti Auto Sales and a nearby insurance agency but an attempt to break into the Southwick Animal Hospital was unsuccessful, Landis said.
“There’s no doubt in my mind” Landis said, that the perpetrator (or perpetrators) was “somebody trying to get the quickest cash” and said that it was probably “some sort of drug thing.”
Landis said that only miscellaneous items were taken and said “it appears they continued southbound” with “the officers right behind them” investigating their previous attempts.
Landis said that an accounting firm was next entered and the spree appears to have ended after Bruschetta’s Gourmet On the Go restaurant at the College Highway intersection with Klaus Anderson Road was broken into.
Landis said that he suspects the suspect may have continued south into Connecticut but could have traveled west on Klaus Anderson Road.
In an incident that may be related but was not on the suspect’s apparent direction of travel, Westfield Officer David Burl reports that a 3:18 a.m. routine building check revealed that an unsuccessful attempt had been made to pry open a rear door at Shaker Farms Country Club.
The incidents remain under investigation by both Southwick and Westfield officers.
