TNT broken into on back-to-back nights

The owner of the TNT bar, Kelly Ratz was really surprised when thieves broke into her Belknap Township business November 22, because it was the first time in her 15 years of ownership she had been victimized. Subjects pried open the back door and took a new bar top video game valued at $5,000, other merchandise, and money, according to manager Gus Neumann. “They took all the cigarettes but a couple of packs,” Neumann said. Also missing was a small amount of petty cash from the register.

The Presque Isle County Sheriff’s Department was called to investigate the complaint at 10:18 a.m. Several extra precautions were made by the business that night and officers made extra rounds of the TNT and other rural bars, but it didn’t stop culprits from returning the next day and illegally entering the front door of the business located at the intersection of County Road 451 and Heythaler Highway. “We were really stunned,” said Ratz, when it happened again.

NEUMANN SAID thieves took restocked cigarettes and pried open the jukebox and took change. A purse that was left behind in the bar had money missing from it and a back storage room was entered. On both occasions, liquor and beer was left behind. “We lost more than $10,000,” said Ratz. The video machine was discovered over the weekend in the Thunder Bay River near the Bagley Street bridge in Alpena. It was floating in a plastic bag. The stolen item was retrieved and transported to the Presque Isle County Sheriff’s Department where it’s being held as evidence.

THE LATEST DEVELOPMENT in the case occurred Sunday when another break-in was discovered across

the road. Eugene Wiszniewski reported the Knights of Columbus Hall had been broken into. Wisniewski told an officer that the last time anyone was at the hall was November 18 when Bingo was conducted. A door was damaged on the north side of the building. There was no property or money missing, Wisniewski told the deputy. The window when this incident occurred would fall into the same time frame as the B & E’s of the TNT.

ALSO, ALPENA COUNTY had a rash of B & E’s to the Hideaway Bar, the Bolton Bar, which is no longer open, the Moose Lodge, and the Eagles Lodge between November 24 and 26.

“It’s not just Presque Isle County,” said sheriff Terry Flewelling, who believes the subjects could be from anywhere. There also have been break-ins of businesses of a similar nature in Cheboygan County. The investigation continues by law enforcement officials from across the region.

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