Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The thieves who broke into eight local bars in late June got away with $14,000, but local police are hoping for evidence and new leads that could help track down the assailants.

So far, the Steamboat Springs Police Department hasn't had much to go on.

"We haven't had any strong leads yet," Officer Jason Patrick said.

The Steamboat Springs Police Department received two leads from the Crime Stoppers anonymous tip program. The first one, which was called in a week after the burglaries, has been ruled as bogus.

The second tip was given last week, and officers are still investigating, Patrick said.

Fingerprints were collected at all the crime scenes, which could produce some more leads, but Patrick said that could take a while.

Processing fingerprints from eight different crime scenes could take months. A lot of prints were taken, but many of them are from employees or other innocent people in the businesses.

"Maybe one will end up being the bad guy," Patrick said.

There was also other evidence from the crime scenes that could help in the investigation, but Patrick couldn't comment on specifics.

The investigation stemmed from the night of June 30, when eight local bars and restaurants were robbed. Safes from four of the businesses were stolen.

El Rancho, Steamboat Brewery and Tavern, Old Town Pub, Toys in the Attic, Soda Creek Pizza, Lupo's, the Tugboat and Slopeside Bar and Grill were burglarized.

El Rancho, Steamboat Brewery and Tavern, Slopeside and Old Town Pub had safes stolen.

All the businesses were entered by prying open a door. None had theft alarms.

The incident is considered the busiest night of burglaries in memory in Steamboat Springs.

There is evidence the crimes are connected to burglaries of bars and restaurants in Winter Park, Eagle County, Silverthorne and Longmont.

"Several of those are pretty consistent to how they broke in (here)," Patrick said.

Officers have determined a cutting torch was used in at least one of the businesses in Steamboat. A cutting torch was used in many of the burglaries in the other towns as well.

Patrick said officers are still interested in any information about suspicious-looking vehicles or people that could be connected to the burglaries.