By Sue Tiffin
July 5 2018
Judy MacDuff knew something was amisswhen she opened the door to the 4Cs Lily Ann Thrift Shop onTuesday morning.
“Oh I thought something is notright” she said. “Things were just scattered.”
MacDuff estimates that a break-inoccurred between 10:30 p.m. on July 2 and 7:45 a.m. July 3 when sheopened the York Street shop.
“They broke a window at the back”she said. “They didn’t take much there was jewelry in thejewelry case which isn’t worth anything that was taken.”
MacDuff called Haliburton HighlandsOPP who she said took blood samples from the broken window.
Besidesblood on items throughout the shop there was also urine on some ofthe clothing which had to be thrown out shoes knocked off the rackitems thrown out a window and a mess that required the shop to beclosed all day so that volunteers could help put it back together.
“It was more of a mess than themgetting much” said MacDuff. “Nobody knew where to start.
Everybody was just so upset. They knew we had to start somewhere.It’s upsetting because you feel violated. Big messes are harder toclean. I think they make you feel worse seeing that someone’s justtore everything apart.”
The same Lily Ann building had beenbroken in before since its move in 2005 from its previous locationwhich had also been broken into. There is no money in the store asit is deposited every night.
“[I] just [feel] kind of disgusted ina way” said MacDuff. “We try so hard to help people. If theyreally needed something if they had come to ask we would havelooked after them.”
Haliburton Highlands OPP reported aseparate break and enter at a business on Hwy 118 inHighlands East which was reported just a minute before the Lily Annbreak-in on July 3. In that incident unknown person(s) accessed atrailer located on the property and stole a large quantity of cashsometime between June 30 and July 3.
Anyone with information regardingeither incident should contact the Ontario Provincial Police at1-888-310-1122 or to remain anonymous contact Crime Stoppers at1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or leave an anonymous online message atwww.khcs.ca where you may be eligible to receive a cash reward of upto $2000.
