Sweet Home Police are investigating the theft of nearly 150 pounds of meat during a burglary last week at Sweet Home Gleaners.
Police received a report of the burglary at 1:20 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 25. Gleaners Executive Director Lisa Pye said the burglary took place from about 9:17 p.m. on Nov. 24 to about 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 25.
The burglar took 112 pounds of assorted meats, including beef, hamburger and hot dogs, as well as four turkeys weighing 34.7 pounds, Pye said.
The meat was taken from a freezer accessed from the rear yard of the Gleaners, 3031 Hwy. 20, said Police Chief Jeff Lynn. “A padlock had been removed from the freezer.”
“Somebody had dropped off a donation Saturday sometime after we closed,” Pye said. The burglar took everything in that donation out of the bags and took some of the items.
“There was some surveillance footage of the theft,” Lynn said. “But the footage isn’t of good enough quality to make identification (possible).”
The suspect could be male or female and ranges in height from about 5 feet 3 inches to 5 feet 6 inches, Lynn said.
Pye said based on size and the way the suspect moved in the video, she thinks it is a female, but she wasn’t certain.
The burglar came into view of surveillance along the west wall of the Farmers Insurance building before crossing the parking lot to the Gleaners building. The suspect kept moving around the area before breaking two surveillance cameras.
(S)he apparently was trying to avoid being seen by cameras, Pye said. The padlock to the backyard was missing, and the suspect used a pry bar to pop the lock on the freezer.
It took the suspect about 15 minutes to open to get through the gate and open the freezer, Pye said. The burglar wheeled away the food and stolen items on a hand truck stolen from the Gleaners, crossing behind Farmers Insurance to the west wall of Hoy’s Hardware, where (s)he moved toward Highway 20 and disappeared from surveillance.
The complainant had a possible suspect in mind, Lynn said. But an officer interviewed that suspect and was able to rule out that individual.
The meat had been donated by Safeway, Pye said, and the turkeys were purchased from Linn-Benton Food Share. For the Gleaners’ tax filing purposes, the meat is valued at $1.69 per pound, $256.73.
“We’re changing things up,” Pye said, and that’s money that could go toward a power bill or other expenses.
Lynn asked that anyone with information about the burglary or theft contact the Sweet Home Police Department at (541) 367-5181.