String of robberies occer around St. Regis

Once again, the Mineral County Sheriff's Office is seeing a string of robberies in and around the St. Regis area. According to Mike Johnson, undersheriff, three robberies have occurred in the area, beginning on April 10 when a green Craftsman riding lawn mower went missing from a residence in the Cougar Meadows area.

The second robbery was also of a riding lawn mower similar to the first and it went missing on April 16. Johnson said that it is unusual that two similar items have gone missing in the area. However, he said if there is any significance he doesn't know what it could be.

Finally, on April 17, an aluminum cover was taken that went over the back of a toolbox from a semi truck. Johnson said that the driver awoke in the early morning and saw a couple of vehicles parked near his truck, but assumed they were police cruisers. The driver went back to bed and when he awoke later in the morning he saw that the cover was gone. Johnson said that it appeared the individuals were looking for tools to take.

"In the case of the two lawnmowers, my sense is that the individual or individuals responsible spent some time looking for these items and knew when these folks were gone or in bed," Johnson said.

Johnson said that as people began working outside it is important that they put away their stuff and do not leave it out in the open.

"It doesn't give us a lot to go when they can just push something out of the yard, load it up and take it away," Johnson said. "These possessions should be secured the best they can in the event that someone did take them they would leave behind some evidence. Again, I just want to urge people if they know anything about these incidents or see anything suspicious happening, please give us a call."

Johnson said that he hasn't gotten the response he would like to see in having people call in and report suspicious activity. He admitted that manpower is definitely an issue for the department. He said that one of the things they'd be working on was creating a new, random work schedule for the deputies as he said it doesn't take long "for the bad guys to figure out during certain times there's no police around." He said that the department needs the help of the community to keep an eye on things, but also to step up and help them out if they know anything pertaining to this or any other crimes that could be of use.

"A lot of the times, these things get solved because people step up into the community," Johnson said. "I just urge folks to do that even though they may not want to. We are all members and we all belong to this community."

Johnson again cautioned that with the economy in the dire state that it is crime will continue to rise and he wants to remind people to "be vigilant and take care of your possessions."

If anyone has any leads to report that the department can look into, Johnson urges you to give them a call at 822-3555.