String of weekend thefts provide a glimpse into growing concerns from local businesses

Got Item Games isn’t usually open on Mondays, but they decided to open their doors on Canada Day to spend time with their community, however, the celebration was quickly soured. 

“Right in the morning somebody just (walked) in and (took) some products off the shelf and booked it on out of here right away,” said store manager Elyse Bussiere.

“The day before, I had found out somebody had tried to pop our door open and get in in the night as well.”

The accused made away with about $60 worth of Pokémon Cards, but the local game store wasn’t his only stop.

“We had two complaints on the 29th, another complaint on the 30th and then two more on July 1st,” explained Amherst Police Department Chief Dwayne Pike.

Adding, “July 1st was kind of like OK, this is going to the point where we really needed to step in because it was a continuation of the offence. It just didn’t seem like it was going to end unless we had that person in custody.”

A 31-year-old man was arrested and remanded on Monday.

He’s been charged with five counts of theft under $5,000 and is scheduled to appear in court again on July 4.

“We had had the incident before on the 29th, the person had been identified at that time because they had been arrested and actually released and then the other two complaints came in the next day, then the third day we caught up with him again and put all the pieces together,” said Chief Pike.

“This is an incident where there wasn’t really a whole lot of effort put into concealing their identity or concealing the crime, it was a really obviously attempt to steal.”

In total, five local stores experienced theft over the Canada Day long weekend, allegedly from the same individual.

The alleged thefts included a bicycle and bicycle helmet, alcoholic liquor, clothing and multiple other items.

“Our theft stats do fluctuate from time to time,” said Chief Pike.

“Right now, they’re probably a little higher than they have been in the past, but it’s, I think, we’re really noticing it a lot more, and especially in those (situations) when you’re dealing with smaller businesses because it really has a huge impact on those business owners who are really trying to make a go of it.”

Local businesses say the weekend situation points to a bigger problem.

“Every day you’re hearing about a business owner or a business, somebody going in and taking things, and it’s literally, it’s happening every day,” said Karen McKinnon, the owner of Maritime Mosaic. 

Four years ago, McKinnon had about $63,000 worth of product stolen from her business.

“As a small business owner, it absolutely hurts us. […] Maybe 20 items got recovered and so that’s a huge hit and that comes out of our own pockets. It’s really hard. Especially when you’re trying to raise a family. I’m not a big corporation. I don’t have funding set aside to pay out these people for theft or stolen items,” she said.

Maritime Mosiac has multiple security camera – some that can be seen on a screen behind the cash counter, others that go directly to her phone and more that record into the main office.

“There’s theft in every community,” she said.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a small town, a village, a city, wherever it is, I just think that it needs to be controlled better.”

Just last month, Curly’s had over $10,000 worth of merchandise taken early one Sunday morning. 

Owner Dwayne Ripley says he found out when his friend texted him and asked if he got robbed.

“Basically, they ‘Kool-Aid Manned’ through the wall. They kicked the back door in then came right in and took all of my expensive collectable cards essentially in one shot,” said Ripley.

Adding, “it sucks. When I first came in I was like ‘I’m closing. I’m closing,’ but after a while I realized we’re OK. It was more my profit stuff. That was the portion of my business that’s fun for me. The cards and everything. I sell supplements and imported candies. I sell merchandise and the biggest thing is that was my fun area and it kind of takes the fun out of everything.”

It’s a reoccurring situation that has left local businesses on the search for change.

“There’s been lots of talks of neighborhood watch, and I’m involved in a lot of that too, I don’t know the answer,” said Ripley.

“I really don’t know the answer and I think that’s what you hear from everyone. From the federal level, the provincial level, the municipal level, no one really knows what the answer is.”

Some businesses have pointed to stricter consequences within the court system and more police presence.

“It’s really disheartening,” said Bussiere.

“It’s really ‘can you keep having a business open or should you just pack it in and not have to worry about those type of things.’”

The Amherst Police says it often relys on assistance from the public, especially in regards to information on matters that impact community safety and well-being and encourage anyone to contact the department with information.

For the local businesses, they just want a safe place to continue to grow within their own communities.

“It’s scary to me because we’re running family night downtown, [Thursday] night here and we do that every two weeks in the summer and we want people to come downtown, we want people to feel welcome here, but if these same people keep breaking into places and then they’re released over and over again, police officers are upset, everyone, the community are upset, I’m not sure what the answer is,” said Ripley.

“It’s unfortunate.”

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