Two businesses, church in Cape County burglarized

As usual, Revis Reisenbichler walked into the office of his Pocahontas business about 5:45 a.m. Wednesday to prepare for the day. What was not usual was finding his gun safe smashed on the floor. While none of his guns was missing, cash from the previous day's sales was gone.

Reis Meat Processing Inc. was one of three rural Cape Girardeau County establishments burgled overnight, said Cape Girardeau County Lt. David James. Other places reporting burglaries were the Cape County Cowboy Church in Oak Ridge and SEMO Ag and Dairy in Jackson.

Rural areas may have seen upticks in burglaries as the number of similar incidents in Jackson has declined of late, said Jackson Police Department Lt. Rodney Barnes.

At least 16 burglaries or attempted break-ins occurred in Jackson during a three-week period in June. Authorities eventually offered a $5,000 reward for information about the incidents. But the number of burglaries declined, Barnes said. He said no arrests had been made in the burglaries as of Wednesday.

"There's been an increase for us," said Lt. David James of the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department. "It's kind of a hit-and-miss thing. Last week we had some cars broken into in Fruitland. Somebody tried to steal a car."

In Jackson, Strawberry Lane, Briarwood Street, Primrose Lane, Connie Drive, Pioneer Orchard, Bainbridge Road and homes near the Bent Creek Golf Course have been the scenes of burglaries or break-ins. Barnes encouraged residents to take security precautions and to make sure their vehicles and homes were locked.

In Cape Girardeau, a Fairview Drive resident was the victim of a home-invasion burglary June 21, investigators said. Several homes and vehicles in a residential area in north Cape Girardeau were broken into and vandalized in May.

Cape Girardeau police have not noticed a rise in burglaries since the incidents in May, officer Darin Hickey said.

"I haven't seen anything that's been significant," he said. "Burglaries are crimes that we can't predict. Officers try to keep their eyes out for suspicious activities in neighborhoods. We haven't seen a huge rise."

Reisenbichler said he was at his office until about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday before returning Wednesday morning. His business has been in operation at the same site since 1999, without any burglaries, although he did have an employee steal something out of an open safe, he said.

Reisenbichler said he had guns in the safe, but the thieves left them alone, possibly because they would be easy to trace. He said insurance will cover the cost of replacing the safe, minus his deductible.

"There has been no business interruption, other than waiting for the sheriff's department to arrive," Reisenbichler said. "The girls have been working on cleaning up the mess since the sheriff's department left."

jgamm@semissourian.com

388-3635

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