For the second time in two months, someone has broken into Aunt Diana’s Candy Makers, 29 E. Burlington St. in Riverside, and made off with hundreds of dollars in cash.
Riverside police on Tuesday alerted the public to the burglaries after rumors began circulating among business owners on Burlington Street that the candy store had been robbed at gunpoint.
According to Detective Sgt. David Krull, the business was not robbed and no employees were inside the business when the money was taken. The manager of the store called police just after 9 a.m. on Dec. 9 to report the business had been burglarized.
The burglary took place between 7:45 p.m. on Dec. 8 and 9 a.m. the following morning. Krull reported that $1,354 was taken from “a number of locations” inside the business, including the cash register and the office.
Police found no signs of forced entry, and the manager reportedly told police that all of the store’s doors were locked when she arrived that morning. Nothing inside the business was damaged.
Krull said police were able to recover fingerprint evidence from the scene, which has been sent to the Cook County crime lab. It could take several months to get the results of the evidence.
The Dec. 8-9 break-in appears to be identical to a break-in at the business that was reported on Oct. 26, leaving police to surmise that whoever is breaking in may have a key to the business. In that incident there was also no forced entry. A total of $670 was taken from the store on that occasion, police reported.
– Bob Uphues
