STERLING – Ken Duncan and Marcy Lawrence recently learned a hard lesson - you’re never fool proof against burglars.
The co-owners of Sauk Valley Signs and Champion Show Supplies say they also learned that sometimes, relying on law enforcement alone is not enough to keep your business safe.
“I’d hate to pin it on the county, but people need to know that you can’t rely on law enforcement alone,” Duncan said. “You have to help them as much as you can.”
And so, Duncan and Lawrence began to do a little detective work of their own. That work paid off March 11 when Whiteside County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Lauren C. Young, 19, a part-time seasonal worker at the business.
He has pleaded not guilty to four counts of burglary in Whiteside County Court.
Sheriff Kelly Wilhelmi said he wishes the department had the manpower to offer 24/7 surveillance, but county budget cuts and lack of resources prevent it.
“Any crime that happens out here in the county affects all of us and it bothers me,” Wilhelmi said. “Our job and our goal here is to provide the absolute best that we can. It’s sad that we can’t do that because of limited funding.”
Coming up short
Duncan and Lawrence have owned the businesses, nestled inside the business park at Industrial Drive on the edge of Sterling, for 4 years.
Lawrence, who does the bookkeeping, started noticing in November that small amounts of money were missing from two of her locked cash boxes.
At first, Lawrence just thought it was an “accounting error.” When the cash box came up hundreds of dollars short – with all the big bills missing – she knew there was something wrong.
“That was the first indication that it wasn’t user error,” she said. “Someone was tampering with something.”
The two kept the thefts a secret because “we didn’t want to make accusations, and we wanted to sort it out ourselves,” Duncan said.
On Feb. 7, Duncan came to work and noticed that the office door had been tampered with and a large amount of cash was missing.
The business was broken into later that month and again in March. BTV Distributors Inc., located in the business park, also reported a break-in.
Lawrence and Duncan declined to say how much was taken, but said it was several thousand dollars.
After the first break-in in February, Duncan and Lawrence called the sheriff’s department.
Reaching out
Duncan said he did everything the sheriff’s department told him to do to avoid future break-ins. He changed the locks and he was able to borrow video equipment from the Sterling Police Department.
When that equipment malfunctioned, he and Lawrence bought some of their own, which included a Webcam with a motion-activated and infrared camera.
With each break-in, the two said they became more frustrated. Duncan said part of the frustration was that a new deputy would arrive on scene with no prior knowledge of the other burglaries.
“That was the defining moment for us as far as tenants and business owners, too,” Duncan said. “I don’t want to say we took matters into our own hands, but we had to do something.
Starting March 1, Duncan, armed with a cell phone and binoculars, sat outside the building from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. for 11 consecutive nights hoping to catch the person who was burglarizing the business.
Duncan is a retired detective with the Stephenson County Sheriff’s Department.
“I did not want a confrontational approach because emotions get high,” he said. “So that’s why we opted to watch the exterior of the building and let the cameras do the work on the inside.”
He also got help from an off-duty Sterling Police officer, a retired officer, and other business owners in the business park.
He also hired the firm Stewart and Associates, a private investigation company based in Freeport.
On March 11, Duncan said he saw someone creep into the building in the middle of the night. He immediately called the police, who greeted the man when he left the building.
Police later identified him as Young. YHe was charged with three burglaries to Sauk Valley Signs and a burglary to BTV Distribution.
He is free on bond and awaiting trial.
Limited resources
While Duncan said he can sympathize with the lack of manpower and resources with the sheriff’s department, he said he wished there could have been more help.
Wilhelmi said he can sympathize with Duncan and Lawrence’s frustrations, and said he wishes the department had the resources and manpower to provide constant surveillance.
“The bottom line is that resources are limited,” Wilhelmi said. “It’s an unfortunate thing. We can’t be everywhere at all times. If I could have had a deputy out there 24/7, I would have.”
Wilhelmi said typically each shift has three patrolmen who each cover 230 square miles of the county.
Due to county budget cuts, Wilhelmi said he was able to replace only five of the eight retiring deputies.
A recent rash of daytime home burglaries also have spent much of the department’s resources, he said.
Wilhelmi said that even though a new deputy may have responded to the different break-ins, the detective on the case was notified each time about the burglaries.
Wilhelmi stressed that businesses, as well as homeowners, should take steps in securing their property.
For business owners, getting a good security system is important, as well as changing the locks if there is a break-in.
And, most importantly, it’s important to remain vigilant, he said. If you see something suspicious, call the police immediately, he added.
Lesson learned
What this experience has taught Lawrence and Duncan, they said, is to be suspicious.
“It’s unfortunate because we shouldn’t have to do that,” Duncan said. “You should be able to trust your employees.”
Lawrence and Duncan now make sure that the doors are secure and the surveillance camera is running no matter what.
“Even when this happened the first time, we thought ‘boy we wish we had a surveillance camera,’” Duncan said. “Now, they’re on 24/7.”