Local

Two thieves behind string of burglaries of St. Johns County businesses

Two thieves are believed to be behind several burglaries in St. Johns County.

Action News Jax got surveillance video from two of the break-ins at local businesses.

“It was really hard to see. I couldn’t watch it,” Brush Salon owner Char Kuhlmann said.

Surveillance video from Brush Salon showed two people going throughout drawers, jumping over the counter and stealing money.

“It’s just a horrible feeling that somebody would do something so horrible,” Kuhlmann said.

The video is similar to surveillance video Action News Jax obtained from Brucci’s Pizza about 10 miles away.

“Just a very violating feeling, like you just don’t know why someone would do that to you,” Kuhlmann said.

In both break-ins, the thieves smashed the windows.

“The whole place looked like it was ransacked,” Kuhlmann said.

She said she thinks thieves broke into her salon because of its location.

“I don’t know, because we are on the end unit. We have a nice unit with nice stuff. Maybe they assumed we had more than we really did,” Kuhlmann said.

The same night, about 10 miles away, thieves broken into the Cafe Genovese and stole a cash register, but it didn’t have money inside.

“It’s kind of concerning if they are all related and, if they are coming from this area, I need to know if my family is safe,” resident Linda Follenwider said.

Follenwider said St. Johns County has always been a safe community, but now she’s worried about crime in the area.

“With all the construction and the new, you don’t have control with what’s going on. I was kind of worried a little bit,” Follenwider said.

The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office believes the same thieves are behind the break-ins because they all happened the same night and because the thieves got into the businesses the same way.