Burglars fail to make off with town’s safe

How safe is the safe at the Bradford Town Office?

It became safer on Tuesday after a town employee cemented it to the floor following the second burglary there in two months.

In each incident the burglars stole the town’s safe. The most recent burglary occurred early Tuesday morning but was not successful, and the burglars were forced to leave the 700-pound safe in the middle of the road.

In both instances the burglars climbed the fire escape of the old building and forced their way through a second-story door.

In the first burglary, on May 29, the burglars stole the town’s safe, which contained $2,500 in cash. The culprits were never caught and police think the same people may be responsible for the break-in Tuesday morning.

On Tuesday morning the burglars were faced with a safe that was twice as big as the first one. The safe was on wheels, and the burglars were able to roll the safe down the building’s ramp for handicapped people. Their trouble apparently began when they tried to load the safe onto a waiting pickup truck.

Town Employee Carlene Oakes said it appeared that a chain was used to drag the safe across the driveway, but the burglars were unable to load the safe onto the pickup and the safe was left in the middle of the road.

Oakes lives less than a mile from the town office and said she was alerted to the burglary by a resident who lives across from the town office.

“He called and said there were lights on in the building,” said Oakes. “At first I wasn’t too concerned, but I decided I better check it out. As I was getting dressed he called back and said there was a vehicle in the driveway.”

Oakes arrived and no one was around, but the safe was in the middle of the road. Maine State Police Trooper Christopher Grotton arrived and began the investigation.

In the May burglary, the safe, which weighed about 300 pounds, was recovered in a creek off the Reeves Road in Bradford, but the money was gone.

There was $700 cash in the safe they attempted to steal Tuesday morning, according to Oakes. “This time they didn’t get any money,” she said.

Oakes said the town was trying to take precautions against a recurrence and said she had spent part of Tuesday morning cementing the safe to the floor of the town office.

“You could make the place burglar-proof but it would take a lot of money,” said Oakes.

State police spent all morning in Bradford gathering evidence and local police departments were watching for the pickup truck allegedly involved in the incident.

Grotton said it was possible the burglary was connected to several similar burglaries that have occurred in the state.