Three Bears latest in string of burglaries

WASILLA — Alaska State Troopers don’t have a whole lot to say about a pretty visible break-in at a major Valley business.

According to trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters, this is all she can say about the break-in at the Three Bears grocery store on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway:

“What I’ve been able to release thus far is that the store had items stolen from it sometime during the night between Saturday and Sunday. Sunday, the items were noticed missing and AST was contacted. Troopers responded to the store and began an investigation. It is an ongoing investigation.”

Further details were not available as of press time, she said.

Accounts on Facebook seemed to indicate that officers from multiple agencies were at the store for a good portion of the day Sunday.

One of the questions Peters declined to answer was whether the break-in had anything to do with a rash of local burglaries recently striking the businesses between Palmer and Wasilla.

Information from law enforcement has been scarce, but starting sometime around Labor Day, more than a half-dozen businesses have been broken into, including stores and dance studios, storage units and contractors.

One of them, an industrial and construction supply company close to the Parks Highway, was hit more than once. In that instance, thieves returned to the building with tools to remove the board the business owner put up to cover the window they broke during the first burglary.

Marie Congdon, owner of Valley Storage, said some of her units were broken into.

“They left the $6,000 gold dredge, they left the Snap-On tool boxes with tools,” she said last week. “They seemed to be after stuff they could easily pawn or easily carry.”

Monday, she reported at least two more places had been hit in the area.

“Four Corners isn’t a great place to do business right now,” she said.

Though it doesn’t quite fit the pattern in that the business is on the other side of Wasilla, a truck accessories shop on the Parks Highway was burglarized over the weekend. Troopers reported the burglary Sunday, but say it happened Sept. 13. The amount of inventory stolen was worth more than $3,000.

Congdon said last week that some business owners she’s spoken to have taken the drastic step of camping out in their businesses overnight, sometimes armed.

She expressed the opinion that, having looked into all the burglaries she’s heard about and compared their similarities, it doesn’t seem like it would take more than a handful of arrests to make them stop.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.