WANGARATTA police are investigating a spree of attempted break-ins across Wangaratta's CBD and West End this past week.
In the week to September 12, four local businesses reported damage to the front of their stores from attempted burglaries overnight.
Detective Senior Constable James Howarth of Wangaratta police said break-ins were attempted on September 5 at around 5:20am at North East Float and Motion, on September 9 at around 2am at Madem Espresso, on September 11 at around 4am at Lavish Hair and Beauty, and September 12 shortly after 3am at Tangled Up Hair and Beauty.
“It’s possibly linked, the offenders are unknown at this stage,” he said.
“If anyone has been out early in the morning and seen anything strange in and around the CBD or the West End of Wangaratta, they can give us a call and let us know.”
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Det Sen Const Howarth said all businesses had minor damage while $300 cash was stolen at Madem Espresso.
“It’s between one or two possible offenders and they attempted to break in with a crowbar,” he said.
Tangled Up Hair and Beauty owner Brielle Ross said she was met with calls and a knock on the door from police at 5:30am on Thursday morning who informed her salon’s door had been smashed in.
“There was glass everywhere, the mess was just horrible” she said.
“It took about two hours to clean up, two vaccums, mopping, I was running around talking to police, insurance, the landlord… I had to do so much work in a short amount of time, it was crazy.
“We have little kids come into the salon who take off their shoes and get around, making sure all of the glass gets picked up is a hard job to do.
“The money comes out of our pocket at the end of the day and we are losing extra money, we’re a small business and it’s hard enough.”
Ms Ross said the salon operated throughout the day until around 8pm as normal and received many messages of support.
“My phone hasn’t stopped ringing all morning and there have been some amazing people who reached out,” she said.
Lavish Hair and Beauty owner Micaela Larkings said she and her staff were met with surprise when they noticed someone had tried and failed to break and enter their shopfront on Wednesday morning.
“There was fly screen removed and you could see the door had been tried to be opened,” she said.
“We were very lucky.”
Anyone with any information is urged to contact Wangaratta police on 03 5723 0888 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or make a confidential report via www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
