Point Reyes Light - December 31, 2003

A burlgar-vandal spree on Christmas

By Ivan Gale

Sheriff’s deputies this week were investigating a burglary and vandalism spree that struck Point Reyes Station and Inverness beginning Christmas Eve.

Although sheriff’s deputies do not know if the same culprits committed all the crimes, here is what the victims reported.

• On Christmas Eve, burglars pried open a metal wall of Toby’s Feed Barn after first getting into the lumber yard of the neighboring Building Supply Center. The burglars committed minor vandalism, stole some products, but got no money.

• Also on Christmas Eve, burglars broke into the Indian Peach Food Company, which is located in the Tomales Bay Foods Building on Fourth Street, by prying open a window. Along with other items, the burglars stole a safe containing at least $2,000 in cash.

• In addition on Christmas Eve, vandals damaged a window box at the Zuma gift store.

• In Inverness vandals last Saturday night used a pellet gun to shoot two cars on Perth Way and one on neighboring Forres Way. On Forres Way, the vandals shot out a car window, while on Perth Way the vandals shot out two windows on one car and shot the post between two windows on another.

Holiday burglaries

The theft of the Indian Peach Food Company safe was the second such burglary this year in Point Reyes Station.

Burglars rifled the safe at the Station House Café next to Toby’s Feed Barn following the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend last January. The restaurant lost three days’ receipts totaling several thousand dollars.

At the end of the Memorial Day weekend, burglars again entered the café and stole a vintage 1920s safe mounted on wheels. Restaurant staff, however, had learned a lesson from the last end-of-holiday burglary and had already deposited most of the weekend’s receipts, so the second loss was far smaller.

Indian Peach burglaries

In the case of the Indian Peach Food Company burglary, "the whole safe was removed," said owner Kim Labao. Suspecting the culprit is familiar with her operation, she said the burglars "knew where the key to the safe was."

Along with money, the safe contained Labao’s passport, paychecks for her staff, and blank checks. "Fortunately for us," she said, "we’d just made a big deposit."

Miscellaneous items including a Christmas gift and some food from the refrigerator were also taken from her company, but while in the Tomales Bay Foods building, the burglars spared the nearby Cowgirl Creamery’s cash registers but did steal $100 from Golden Point Produce Company’s cash register.

Labao noted delivery people, food suppliers, purveyors, staff members, and sometimes customers are allowed behind the counter. "We’re a trusting community," she said.

Golden Point Produce

"It’s disappointing," agreed produce shop owner Gail Coppinger. "We get so lax in Point Reyes. We think we’re a nice little town. You let your guard down.

"You think nobody misbehaves, but more and more it’s been happening to other merchants in town. First mischief and vandalism, and now this. It’s been escalating, and I don’t know what to do about it." Coppinger added that she is thinking about installing surveillance cameras.

Sheriff’s Lt. Ritch Ginnodo, commander of the West Marin substation, told The Light he believes Indian Peach was not a "random target," adding: "There are some indications that whoever took the items may have had knowledge of where the stuff was."

Culprits’ trail at Toby’s

Meanwhile, whoever broke into Toby’s Feed Barn on Christmas Eve left a trail of items to mark their ransacking of the store. "They left a trail – within the store and outside the store – of dog toys and collars," said store owner Chris Giacomini, who noted the trail went all the way to the Building Supply Company fence.

Various store items were also found in a garden used by a yoga studio that has space in the Feed Barn.

"It could have been a lot worse," Giacomini said but added he felt "violated" that an intruder had been on the premises for criminal purposes.

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