By KATHARINA CAVANO
Avon Police Chief Terence Mahon told residents this week that one suspect has been arrested in connection with a series of burglaries in the borough and urged residents to keep their homes and garages locked.
“We need your eyes and ears,” Mahon told residents at the Board of Commissioners meeting Aug. 12.
Mahon assured citizens that he and the rest of the police force were working their hardest to catch the culprits. In fact, they have arrested one suspect in connection with the burglaries, and he is now in the county jail.
Mahon said the burglaries are occurring in homes with unlocked windows, doors, or garages and in some instances screens on the windows have been cut open for access into the homes. There is no particular pattern or time frame that can be discerned from these burglaries but the chief urged citizens to be alert and to report anything suspicious they may see happening in their neighborhood.
The majority of the items stolen have been relatively small –iPods, cash, and in one case a single golf club – for this reason, Mahon explained that residents don’t realize they have been robbed and why it has been difficult to narrow down a general time frame of the burglaries. Because these items can easily be sold for cash, Chief Mahon believes the burglaries may be drug-related.
The board also passed a resolution that will allow for a grace period for the property taxes for the third quarter of 2013 to September 3, 2013.
Borough Administrator Timothy Gallagher reported that as of August 11, beach revenue is down $189,000 from last year, and that the pool’s revenue is down $7,227. Gallagher also explained that the town has yet to receive a concrete answer from FEMA on whether they will receive funding for the Pavilion and the surrounding buildings. Gallagher is “confident we will get funding for the portion of the building with the bathrooms.”