BERWICK — Less than six weeks after the newly refurbished Ber-Vaughn pool’s grand opening, a thief broke into the office.
The man, who wore a garbage bag over his head during the burglary, carefully wiped the counter clear of his fingerprints before sliding over it to make his escape.

But he left behind blood and fingerprints on the window he used to enter. He also left behind a flashlight and video images captured by the pool’s surveillance cameras.

His take was only two or three dollars in change, officials said.

“No one said criminals are smart,” said pool board member Jim Long.

You can see the video here.

Anyone with information is asked to call the State Police at 570-387-4261.

Long suspects the same thief broke into the Briar Creek Borough building the same night. There was no money there, either, although the burglar did escape with some electronics, said Long, who is also a Briar Creek councilman.

Thief’s persistence doesn’t pay off

The break-in at the pool took place around midnight between Sunday and Monday, said pool association President Joshua Kishbaugh.

Video surveillance shows the man unsuccessfully trying to use what looks like a crowbar pry open the roll-down door sealing the counter window where pool staff members greet swimmers.

The man leaves, then returns to try again, occasionally pausing to hide in a shadowy corner, apparently when vehicles pass by.
Then he disappears from the video.

Long said it appears he climbed the barbed-wire topped fence to get into the pool area, then entered the bathhouse and managed to open a sliding window to get into the office.

He may have hurt himself along the way; the window was smeared with blood when staff arrived Monday morning

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Executive Director Megan Kiliti said all the lockers in the office area were open, along with her desk drawer. But nothing was taken, other than a few quarters.

Kishbaugh said pool staff deposit the cash they collect every night.

Locked in

It appears the thief then found himself locked in the pool area. The locking mechanism for a second roll-down door used to secure the  pool entryway was bent as if someone who didn’t understand how it worked had been inside trying to force it open.

Finally, the man reappears on the video surveillance opening up the roll-down door over the counter from the inside, wiping down the counter, and sliding out.

Long said the only damage the thief caused besides the bent locking mechanism was a small dent in the metal counter.

State Police stationed in Bloomsburg are investigating; they called in a forensics team that took fingerprints and DNA samples, Kishbaugh said.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed that he’s in the system,” he said. “It’s  just sad. You do good things and someone comes along to ruin them.”

Locked cabinet held paperwork, not cash

Meanwhile, a short distance down Park Road from the pool, the Briar Creek Borough building was also burglarized.

There, the thief tried to tear down a surveillance camera by the main entrance, leaving it hanging from its fastener.

He pried open a side door to get into the building, then forced open the office door, breaking out the latch.

Once inside, he stole the video recorder that held his image, along with the office computer tower and a point-and-shoot camera.

He also ruined a locked fireproof filing cabinet as he pried it open.

The cabinet held nothing except copies of meeting minutes and similar, public documents; Long said the only reason they were locked in the filing cabinet was to protect them from fire.

The cabinet alone was worth about $2,000, he said.

Watch for computer

The computer held ordinances, letters and minutes of meetings, but no personal or confidential information, he said.

“We have hard copies of all of it,” he said. “But it gave us quick access.”

The Dell computer is locked with a password and will show the name of Briar Creek Borough when it’s turned on, said Amy Evans, borough secretary/treasurer. Its loss is more of a nuisance than anything.

“It’s a huge inconvenience,” Evans said. “What were they thinking they’d find?”

The borough rarely keeps cash on hand, she said, only the occasional $25 deposit for the use of the hall. That money is deposited every night at a bank, she said.

She’s hoping someone will find the abandoned device before she has to re-enter all the data into a new computer.

Susan Schwartz covers the Berwick area. She can be reached at 570-752-3646 and susan.schwartz@pressenterprise.net, or followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/PESueSchwartz.