Third break-in reported at Waterbury Center State Park contact station
August 22, 2023 | By Lisa Scagliotti Update: This post was updated at 3:10 p.m.
Vermont State Police are investigating what was the third break-in in about a month at the contact station at the Waterbury Center State Park late Monday night.
Vermont State Police shared this security camera video from inside the park building.
Trooper Ryan Riegler said state park staff reported the incident Tuesday morning and this time they have security camera footage showing the suspect committing the crime.
Based on the camera data, a man entered the park station building at 11:04 p.m. and was inside for about 30 minutes. The individual is wearing a cap, gloves, and a facemask with some facial hair visible below the mask.
The man has a crowbar and strikes the camera several times. A small safe under the counter inside the station is damaged and opened. Park staff shared images of the safe this morning. Riegler said the safe contained cash that park staff would use for making change when the park is in operation during the day.
The robbery is the third in about a month. The first happened on July 18 and the second on Aug. 9, Riegler said. In the first incident $300 was stolen; in the second instance $600 was taken. Riegler said $472 was missing from Monday’s burglary.
Damaged safe inside the park contact station. Screenshot
State Parks operations manager Chad Ummel said Monday’s theft was only cash and that steps have been taken to minimize the amount of cash left in the safe overnight. “It’s the startup cash. The day use park does countless small $5 transactions all day,” Ummel explained.
In the earlier incidents, state park passes, punch cards and car stickers were also taken, Ummel said. Those items are stored differently now as well.
The motion-activated security camera was added after the second break-in and the safe was bolted to the floor, Riegler noted.
The first robbery happened when the park was closed following the July 10 flood and the park was open when the second incident occurred, Ummel said. The Waterbury Center park along Vermont Route 100 is one of the most popular day use state parks in Vermont. It’s open from Memorial Day until Indigenous Peoples Day in early October. The park sustained damage in the beach and boat launch area from the July flooding and was closed for a little over a week.
Riegler estimated that the suspect in the Monday break-in is average to shorter height based on the video. He is seen wearing a concert t-shirt that says “World Tour ‘97” on the back. The printing on the front of the shirt is blurry in the video, but it resembles a Biggie Smalls 1997 concert t-shirt found on eBay. “I think that’s it,” Riegler said when a reporter shared the images from the auction website.
Riegler said he hopes the public might be able to assist in identifying the man in the surveillance video. Contact the state police Berlin barracks at 802-229-9191 or sumbit a tip anonymously by texting the keyword VTIPS to 274637 (CRIMES).