RUMFORD – A series of break-ins and vandalism in the Congress-Canal streets area occurred sometime between late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.
Police don’t know yet whether the incidents are related.
Rumford Police Chief Tim Bourassa said Wednesday that burglars gained entrance to the River Valley Grill on Exchange Street by breaking one of the restaurant’s front windows. A small amount of cash was taken from the cash register and a coffeepot was broken, along with the front window.
Bourassa said no estimates of damage have been made. The break-in was reported by the restaurant’s owner, Robert Knowles, at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday.
While investigating officers Sgt. George Cayer and Officer Paul Casey were at the River Valley Grill, they noticed an open door at the Second Time Around Shop a few hundred feet up adjacent Congress Street, Bourassa said.
The door had been smashed in, the chief said. It is unknown whether anything was taken. He estimated the time of the incidents at between 2 and 4:30 a.m.
In a parking lot at nearby Railroad Street, one or more people dumped sand into the gas tanks of Lem Cissel’s Ford pickup truck and into the Scrapmobile, which is a large mobile store on wheels that accompanies Cissel’s business, Scrappers Domaine.
A 1997 Oldsmobile sedan, owned by Dawn Allen of Peru and parked near Cissel’s two vehicles, was also vandalized, according to Casey. He said the rear window was smashed, scratches were made on the side of the vehicle and several items were taken. Casey said some of the items were found near the vehicle.
He estimated the incidents occurred between 11 p.m. Tuesday and before 7:05 a.m. Wednesday.
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