The Crestone Eagle, August 2007:

Burglars hit Crestone & Villa Grove
by Mary Lowers

On the night of July 17, Crestone General Store (Curt’s) was broken into and robbed. According to Lynn Ertle, store manager, sometime overnight thieves broke into the front of the store and took petty cash and money from various donation jars. They also broke into the small office between the old store and the new store, “They pried the front door off the office and broke the dial of our safe in the office. When they were unable to open the safe inside, they removed the safe to the area between the office, the new store and the old store. They beat the safe open, even breaking the head of a framing hammer which they left on the ground,” Lynn told me. The deposit bag from the day before, containing cash, checks and credit card receipts, was in the safe. It is not certain how much the burglars got away with.

“Saguache County Sheriff deputies were quick to respond when we called in the robbery at around 7am,” Lynn said. The store was closed briefly so officers could do a thorough investigation of the crime scene. Sheriff’s deputies removed the battered safe to Saguache for processing. According to Lynn, “None of the neighbors heard a thing.” Storeowners Curt and Bernadette Ward are shocked and saddened by the burglary. If you wrote a check or used a credit card at Crestone General Store on July 17, Lynn said, “Please be aware that your check or credit card receipt was stolen from the safe.Call your credit card company or bank if you wrote us a check on July 17. Checks cannot be cashed by the burglers as they were already endorsed but, we have no record of checks written to us on that were taken. Please come in and write us a new check to help us recoup our lose if you wrote a check at the store July 17.”

When the Crestone robbery was being called in, Saguache County Sheriff’s deputies were already in Villa Grove where three businesses were burgled the same night as the Crestone General Store. Wild West Upholstery, Highland Station and the Villa Grove Trade Coffee Shop were all hit. None of these businesses had anyone living on the premises. Jeff Shook of Villa Grove Trade told me the robber took cash only in all three burglaries. “He was a courteous bandit,” according to Jeff. “He even moved a rooting plant off the window sill in the Coffee House rather than breaking it. We are unaccustomed to this sort of behavior and look around to wonder if we are getting lax.”

Sheriff Mike Norris commented, “This is an unsettling occurrence for our communities, and we will do our best to clear these cases; however, it won’t be easy! I would appreciate everyone’s help. Keep your eyes and ears open and let the Sheriff’s office know if any tips should arise. The sooner we can clean this up, the more at ease we will all be.”

The Saguache County Sheriff’s Department is investigating both burglaries. Please call 719-655-2544 if you have any information that might help in these investigations.

Back to Archives Page

Subscribe to the Eagle!