Ronan, Polson businesses burglarized
<p>Lake County Sheriff's Department deputies survey the scene of a burglary at Westland Seed Tuesday morning. A stolen courtesy car from the Ronan airport was driven through the front door of the store.</p>
LAKE COUNTY — A string of burglaries woke up several storeowners in Lake County early Tuesday morning. The three separate break ins that occurred within the span of an hour and a half are believed to be connected.
The first burglary happened around 4:30 a.m. at Ronan Sports and Western. Karen Olson said robbers shattered the glass door on the sporting goods side of the store with a sledgehammer, but they were not able to get into the building. Mission Valley
Security, who monitors the alarm system, alerted authorities shortly after.
Olson said she assumes thieves were after guns but they don’t know for sure.
“Every other time we have been broken into, it has been over guns,” she said.
Forty-five minutes later, a lock on the back door of Depoe Junction in Polson was broken and burglars tripped another Mission Valley Security alarm. Dan Depoe said he and Polson police officers came in through the front of the store around 5:15 a.m., but by the time they got to the back of the store, the would-be thieves were gone.
Depoe said nothing was taken from his main store and he has no idea what the criminals were after.
“It got me up and was kind of exciting but nothing materialized here,” he said.
Such was not the case, yet another 45 minutes later, at Westland Seed in Ronan when a stolen airport courtesy car barreled through the glass double doors and security gate into the store.
David Sagmiller said their security cameras had just hit 5:58 a.m. when the car entered the store. In less than three minutes a suspect wearing a full-face ski mask made off with seven firearms, including a .50 caliber rifle. The car was found running and in-gear when Lake County Sheriff’s officers and CSKT Tribal Police arrived on scene.
Lake County Undersheriff Dan Yonkin called the incident an “act of desperation.” He said the vehicle had been stolen from the Ronan airport and had not yet been reported.
“It appears to have been stolen just for this purpose,” he said.
Though only one person was caught on camera, Yonkin said it appears that more than one individual was involved. Authorities have yet to make an arrest in the case.
“Obviously we’re looking for any information that could help us out,” Yonkin said.
“Given the rash of gun thefts and burglaries lately, this is certainly a step up.”