The owner of a local ice cream parlor is the latest victim in a rash of robberies in the Lakes Region, the victim of an early morning burglary.
The burglary occurred July 17, exactly three years after the store’s first day of operation.
Troy Locke, owner of the Ice Cream Dugout on Route 302 in North Windham, arrived at his shop on the morning of July 17 to find burglars had smashed a rear window and stole a 200-pound safe containing an undisclosed, but “good amount of money,” Locke said.
In the wake of the burglary, Locke, a 33-year-old hard working business owner who grew up in Windham, said he was heartbroken to hear someone would steal from the business he takes tremendous pride in.
“I feel violated, definitely,” Locke said. “I built a dream here. It’s literally a dream. And to have someone come into my shop is a total violation of my space.”
To get back at the robbers, Locke is now offering a $500 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the person, or persons, responsible.
The robbery occurred around 2 a.m. on July 17, Windham Police Lt. David DeGruchy said.
Someone broke through a rear window, went into Locke’s office and retrieved the safe. Since the safe was heavy, the robber(s) hoisted the safe on to Locke’s office chair and wheeled it outside and across the parking lot to a waiting ATV.
The safe was later recovered “smashed to bits” in the nearby Grondin pit at the end of Enterprise Drive, according to DeGruchy.
At this time, police are still investigating, but fingerprint analysis done on the safe and broken window have yielded only partial prints, DeGruchy said.
The Ice Cream Dugout wasn’t the only business broken into that night. At 2:40 a.m. an alarm sounded across the street at Marston’s Redemption when burglars, whom police believe are the same who hit the Dugout earlier in the night, attempted to access the Marston’s convenience store.
According to owner Pam Marston, an operator at Great Falls Security System called Marston at home around 3 a.m. to notify her that the business alarm had sounded and that police had already responded.
Windham police later told Marston that a patrol officer had responded immediately and saw a basement window broken. Once inside the basement, the robber(s) found a crowbar and were trying to open the door connecting the storefront with the warehouse when the alarm sounded.
They fled once the alarm started to sound. A Claman Drive neighbor, who heard the retreating engine sound of the ATV, called police to report the disturbance.
“They didn’t get nothing,” Marston said. “These people need to get a job.”
While she didn’t lose any merchandise in the July 17 robbery, Marston has taken precautionary steps to make sure she isn’t robbed again.
The next day, July 18, Marston spent $450 to “beef up” security at her store. She installed an alarm in the warehouse and a motion detector in the basement.
Across the street, at the Dugout, security was of utmost concern the day after the robbery. With both he and his employees in “total shock,” Locke worked quickly to install an electronic security system.
“I feel like I shouldn’t have had to” install the system, Locke said. “When you build a business in the same town you grew up in, it’s my community and to think someone in that community did this, it’s a very uneasy feeling you get.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
