Link sought in Weston break-ins

VILLAGE OF WESTON - The Wood County Sheriff’s Office is investigating whether several village crimes, including two gas station break-ins, are related.

Det. Lt. Jamie Webb said Tuesday that the agency would be following up on some persons of interest in connection with the robberies.

He said one or more subjects forced entry Monday into the Weston Marathon, 13170 Mill St., at about 3 a.m. and the Main Street (Shamrock) Station, 13125 Main St., at an unknown time.

Cigarettes and cash were taken from the stores, which were closed at the time.

"Cigarettes, lottery tickets, some cash," said Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn. "Most of the places don't have cash but one of them has a jar of coins, so they took the container of coins."

The Shamrock station robbery took place early Monday morning. Someone pried open the back door to get inside, the same morning Weston's other gas station was broken into. The Marathon on Mill Street was hit around 3 a.m.

"Its pretty blatant to force their way in to a business," the sheriff said. " It's startling that unfortunately people do that."

The burglaries come on the heels of a series of village car break-ins, which occurred Oct. 30 in the area east of the railroad tracks and north of Taylor Street.

A 3-foot crowbar and a cell phone were found Monday in the yard of a Taylor Street residence. Webb said detectives are considering whether the items might have been involved in either the car or gas station break-ins.

The sheriff’s office also is still trying to determine whether the same people broke into the gas stations, and whether those incidents are related to the vehicle thefts.

Detectives believe the same person or persons are responsible for other gas station robberies around the county and at locations in Lucas County. Sheriff Wasylyshyn hopes someone might know something to bust the bad guys before they strike again.

"Because it's such a wide area being Lucas County and Wood County, and it many be in other counties too," he said. "We're still getting information from other detectives. It's very likely it's somebody who is traveling through and just hitting different areas they are driving though so that makes it more challenging."

Anyone who has information on the break-ins is asked to call the Wood County Sheriff's Office at (419) 354-9001.

(The Sentinel-Tribune newspaper is a FOX Toledo News media partner; FOX Toledo's Heather Miller contributed to this report)