Royal Canadian Legion Branch 40 president Murray Grandy holds a security grill dented and ripped off the office door. The Legion lost $2,000 in deposits in a break-in that happened sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning.
(SHANNON QUESNEL / iNFOnews.ca)
August 20, 2013 - 1:17 PM
PENTICTON - Devastating is what Royal Canadian Branch 40 president Murray Grandy calls the theft of $2,000 from their office.
The Martin Street building was broken into sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning and nearly two grand of cash from weekend events were stolen from a deposit box on the interior side of the office door.
Grandy stood near the office door on Tuesday; its security grill, its mesh screen and its deposit box ripped off and badly dented. The president said there were no other signs of forced entry on the doors leading to the outside so the person must have had a key or gained non-forceful access somehow.
RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said police are not sure if suspects hid inside until closing or managed to gain entry without damaging an exterior door.
The loss could not come at a worst time. Earlier this year Branch 40 started an approval process to sell their Martin Street building due to financial troubles. "We were sort of thinking of coming out of the hole," Grandy said, with the $2,000.
This is also the second break-in this year with the first happening in January when $1,200 was taken from a safe near the bar although nothing was damaged Grandy explained.
Grandy said the branch will buy a $900 floor safe which operates like a bank's exterior deposit slot. The safe will be bolted to the floor near the bar.
Anyone with information about the theft are asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477(TIPS) or go to www.sostips.ca. or call the Penticton RCMP at 250-492-4300.
To contact a reporter for this story, to send photos or videos, email Shannon Quesnel at squesnel@infotelnews.ca, call 250-488-3065, tweet @shannonquesnel1 or @InfoNewsPentict
Royal Canadian Legion Branch 40 will be buying a $900 safe to safeguard cash against future break-ins. The Legion lost $2,000 in deposits in a break-in that happened sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning.
(SHANNON QUESNEL / iNFOnews.ca)
News from © iNFOnews, 2013