Burglaries Unsettle Middleburg

Seven Businesses Suffer Break-Ins

By Kafia A. Hosh

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

A rash of burglaries in downtown Middleburg has rattled the sleepy town's commercial district.

Seven businesses were broken into early Sunday, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office. In many cases, the burglar or burglars broke in through a back door and made away with cash and merchandise.

The crime spree was unusual for quiet Middleburg, where many store owners are on a first-name basis with their customers.

Photo: Kafia A. Hosh

Susan Vicidomini, manager of Teddy’s Pizza & Subs on Federal Street in downtown Middelburg, points to the door in the back of the restaurant that suspects kicked in to gain access to the building.

On Tuesday, some of the victims said they were disturbed by the scope of the burglaries.

"It was shocking — and then to find out we weren't the only ones," said Susan Vicidomini, manager of Teddy's Pizza & Subs.

Tucked along a back street, Teddy's is a small, family-owned restaurant that has served New York-style pizza in Middleburg for 16 years. Yellow police tape draped a lawn chair near the restaurant's back door Tuesday morning. Someone kicked open the door and stole about $100 from the cash register, Vicidomini said.

The Fun Shop, another family-owned business, also was burglarized. Manager Page Allen said she suspected that some merchandise was taken and was checking her inventory.

To her knowledge, it was the first time anyone had broken into the small department store, which opened in 1956 and is one of the town's oldest businesses.

Photo: Kafia A. Hosh

Burglars broke into Teddy's Pizza & Subs in Middleburg, along with seven other businesses, early Sunday morning. Manager Susan Vicidomini points to where suspects broke the lock on the back door.

"It makes me sad to think this kind of stuff has come to Middleburg," Allen said.

Employees at stores that were not burglarized were equally anxious.

Toni Gauthier, a sales associate at the women's clothing boutique Lou Lou, said she was unsettled by the break-ins.

"It's very unusual for this area," she said. "It's a little frightening. We don't have that kind of criminal activity here."

Sheriff's spokesman Kraig Troxell said the other businesses hit were Middleburg Auto Parts, Back Street Cafe, Dank's Deli, the kitchenware store Creme de la Creme and the Tack Box, which sells equestrian products. He said there also was an attempted break-in at Books & Crannies, a bookstore.

The sheriff's office was investigating the burglaries Tuesday and had yet to identify a suspect, Troxell said.

Troxell said crime tends to increase during an economic downturn. But he said the Middleburg burglaries were unusual because they were confined to a small area and appeared to have occurred consecutively.

Other recent burglaries in the county "were over a period of time and they were spread out over a large area," he said.

Troxell declined to provide more details on the amount of cash taken or the merchandise stolen.

He said it is unclear whether the burglaries and two other recent crimes in the Middleburg area are connected.

On March 7, a woman was tending to horses at a barn on St. Louis Road when a man grabbed her and threw her to the ground. And about 2 a.m. Tuesday, a 19-year-old Middleburg man carrying a BB shotgun and BB handgun was arrested in the 100 block of West Marshall Street and charged with carrying a concealed weapon and possession of marijuana.

Tagged: crime, Loudoun Sheriff's Office, Middleburg, police, Teddy’s Pizza & Subs

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