Strange thefts highlight drug problem

Aquarium test tubes, fish food scales and dog medication probably wouldn’t stand out as items that could be useful in a life of crime, but a strange assortment of recent thefts may have been fueled by a methamphetamine and heroin problem in Flathead Valley.

“It’s gotten to where I fear we are feeling the effect of drugs in this valley,” veterinarian Kelly A. Rankin said after her downtown practice, Flathead Animal Clinic, was burglarized for a third time on Jan. 18. “I can feel the pain.”

A burglar first struck the clinic in mid-September.

It was the first time Rankin’s business had been visited by a thief in 25 years of practice except for an isolated incident years ago. She thought it would be a one-time deal, but thieves broke in again on Nov. 21 and Jan. 18.

Each time the burglar made it in a different way — by opening windows, prying open doors or breaking through glass. Rankin hopes she won’t be victimized again. She has installed a blaring alarm system in addition to the security cameras that were already in place and got a snapshot of the covered face that took animal medicine and a small amount of cash.

She estimates her losses at between $4,000 and $5,000.

She hopes other businesses will be wary.

“We’re in downtown Kalispell and there is someone brazen enough to do this,” Rankin said. “Whoever it is, he’s got a serious problem if he’s going to go to these lengths.”

Kalispell Police Chief Roger Nasset said that if drug users took medicines from the clinic, he wouldn’t be surprised.

“I’ve seen it before,” Nasset said. “Stealing not only the needles but drugs for animals.”

Workers at The Aquarium pet shop in Kalispell also were left scratching their heads after a break-in on Jan. 15, but were told drug users were also likely to blame.

A set of tropical fish food scales would be useful in weighing out drugs while glass test tubes used for testing aquarium water could easily be modified into meth pipes, the workers were told.

Saleswoman Kelly Dixon opened the store the morning after the burglary. She never expected it to happen, and if it did, she thought the burglars would hit the store’s till.

“We’re a pet store,” Dixon said. “We sell dog food and fish and cat food.”

 She found that the businesses’ power system had been cut; that rendered a security system useless.

The donation jar for the Flathead Valley Animal Shelter had been rummaged through, with only pennies left behind. The thief took nickels, dimes, quarters and paper money. The bandit even made off with an employee’s EpiPen, a treatment for anaphylaxis, that was stored away in a desk in case of a bee attack.

“We were all just kind of going, ‘What in the world?’” manager Darel Ridenour said.

Ridenour said that the shop’s estimated damages totaled around $2,000, but that number is growing as the shop has experienced an abundance of sick fish that contracted a cold-like illness after the power loss caused pumps and heaters to shut down for several hours.

“We’ve had some fish that we have lost,” Ridenour said. “It just put stress on the fish.”

Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said that his office has not seen an uptick in thefts and burglaries, but that numbers have not gone down, either.

“We’re still seeing a lot of burglaries and thefts related to drugs,” Curry said. “We’ve been working them pretty hard, and we’ve been making quite a few arrests, but it seems like every group we find there’s one more out there.”

Curry said security systems, lighting, and alarm systems are all deterrents to burglars. Homes and businesses seem to be getting burglarized at equal rates, Curry said.

He suggested that homeowners not post details about their vacation plans on social media and ask trusted neighbors to check in if a person has to be gone for a few days. Curry also recommends using common-sense safety measures.

“Lock your doors,” Curry said. “Lock your cars.”

Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.