Investigators working to crack burglary string

When Jayne Tuetken rolled into work on Monday morning, she had already heard about a string of break-ins.

"I already knew about three of the other ones before I came in," said Tuetken. "I just walked up to the door, saw broken glass and called 9-1-1."

Tuetken is the co-owner of the Martelle C-Store, one of the businesses targeted in a string of burglaries.  After breaking into the store, someone took the cash register.  Law enforcement officers later found the register, with only a few coins left inside.

Between Sunday night and Monday morning, at least eight businesses between Delaware County, Jones County, Linn County and Johnson County were hit.  Most were along State Highway 38 (Hopkinton, Monticello, Scotch Grove) or State Highway 1 (Martelle, Solon, Mount Vernon, Iowa City).

"It is unusual in that we saw so many break-ins over one evening," said Jones County Sheriff Greg Graver.  "It helps us to make it easier to put together."

Yet putting it together is what Graver and neighboring sheriff's offices are working on.  He said detectives worked for hours on Tuesday night to follow up on a lead, but it ended up being a "dead end tip".

Of the eight reported burglaries, three were pharmacies and three were convenience stores. A bar in Scotch Grove and a tire store in Iowa City were also hit.

Police in Mount Vernon said someone broke the glass door at the front of Shepley Pharmacy, just one block off Highway 1 downtown.  Chief Mark Winder said no cash was taken, but hundreds of dollars in medications, such as Sudafed, were stolen.

"The dollar value of the amount of drugs taken wasn't much, maybe $700 in substances, but the damage to the door was that or more," said Winder.  "The cash register taken in Martelle was worth more than what was taken from the store."

Now days after the burglaries, investigators say they will continue to study the surveillance images as they await any tips or leads that will lead to an arrest.