Police are asking for the public’s help to find out who is behind a string of recent burglaries of Rapid City businesses. Eleven businesses, sporadically located within city limits, were broken into from Nov. 12 to Nov. 16 during nighttime hours.

The burglars were primarily looking for unsecured cash in the buildings, according to a news release, but some of the business owners say burglars took other small items when they couldn’t find any cash.

A search of the police department’s crime log shows that in some of the break-ins, the burglars targeted multiple shops in the same business complex or office building. And some shop owners had been targeted before this recent spree.

Jennifer Heidepriem, owner of The Collection, in the 2500 block of West Main Street, said her salon was burglarized Aug. 21 and again sometime the night of Nov. 12 or early the next morning. Both times, a rock was thrown through the window, damaging a wall and the floor.

Heidepriem said the structural damage from the first break-in hadn’t even been repaired before the second one happened.

During the first burglary, $500 in cash and checks were stolen; $200 in cash was taken the second time.

Another salon in the same complex was broken into the same night. Beth Mollman, owner of It’s Your Place Salon & Day Spa, said her business was hit, too. Again, a rock was thrown through a window, breaking it and damaging a wall.

About $300 in cash was lifted from cash boxes in the salon. Mollman said the financial loss would have been more, but some of her stylists had hidden their cash boxes after The Collection was burglarized in August.

Police told Mollman hers was one of five business hit that night, she said. She praised the response of the police, saying officers were able to lift prints from checks touched as the cash was being stolen.

Heidepriem said her salon will be installing a security system, and she has talked to the building’s owners about additional lighting on the outside.

“We’re trying to prevent this from happening again,” Heidepriem said.

Scott Williams, owner of Black Hills Scuba in the 2500 block of West Chicago Street, said the back door of that store had been pried open the night of Nov. 12, but only a disposable camera and a knife used to open boxes were missing.

“They were obviously looking for cash, and we don’t keep any cash,” Williams said.

A neighboring businessman in that complex said he believes the same people are responsible for both crime sprees.

Harold Stone of Stone’s Furniture said his business escaped the Nov. 12 break-ins, but both of his neighbors were hit –- the scuba shop on one side and an electrical shop on the other.

Stone said the burglars didn’t bother with the furniture store that night because they already knew the business didn’t have anything of interest to them.

Stone Furniture was burgled a few months ago. A window was broken out, and $10 or $20 in cash was taken along with a camera in a back office belonging to Greg Stone, Harold’s son and the owner of the business. Harold Stone said that despite numerous objects worth considerably more, the camera was the only thing missing besides the cash.

“It isn’t the amount -- it’s the trouble that you go through,” Harold Stone said, describing the frustration of store owners.

“It just sort of eats on you.”

Contact Holly Meyer at 394-8421 or holly.meyer@rapidcityjournal.com