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Holiday break-ins are not uncommon. Thieves are looking to make bigger scores and trying to take advantage of folks having extra cash on hand. It’s a sad reality for many, and when it happens, the feeling of violation is just as bad, if not worse, than the loss of property.

Zywiec’s Garden Center, known in the region for their wonderful floral selection, and their Halloween Haunt, experienced their own haunt on Sunday, December 6th, when two yet-to-be-identified males broke into their business. From their Facebook page, “Early this morning, two individuals decided to break into our store. We are asking for the community’s help in identifying them. If you have any information on this morning breakin or know who these individuals are, please contact us at 651-459-3001 or contact the Cottage Grove Police Department. We have surveillance videos in the comments. Thank you!”

Over 100 people commented within 17 hours to try to help catch the men who broke in. Some discussed having witnessed them in Scabs Place earlier, so there may be an opportunity to cross reference video and credit card information there. Others tried connecting the dots with similar break-ins of their own.

The Journal spoke with Manager Bobbie Jo Coomer at Zywiec’s Monday morning regarding the break in. It happened in the early morning hours when there were no employees on the property, so thankfully no one was hurt. The two male suspects were on the property for an extended period of time. The only known damage at the time of the interview was the glass door they broke to gain entry. They are still assessing what was taken, but thankfully it does not appear to be much. As of Monday morning, they had discovered only a few personal items were taken, one being a beverage. “Nothing store related, they left with a pair of Carhart Bibs and helped themselves to a drink,” Coomer chuckled.

Do not let the chuckle fool you, the chuckle was one of unease and shock, that it happened, again. “It’s our second one in a year, so it’s a little unnerving,” she added.

One good aspect of social media is the ability to get detailed information out quickly, including pictures and video. In the time since the post, what have they learned?

“We’ve had quite a few calls in response to the Facebook post. We turned all the leads over to the police,” Coomer stated, but are any of them credible?

“We believe so, but we haven’t heard back yet,” she added.

It is always tough around the holidays, especially when a person, or in this case, two people, do what many of us see as the unthinkable and try to steal from others. Thankfully, these two idiots seem to fail miserably at their quest, but it does not change the feeling of being violated for those at Zywiec’s.

If you have any tips on who the alleged perpetrators could be, please contact the Cottage Grove Police Department at 651-459-3001