LIHUE — Many of the 30 tenants at the Lihue Plantation Building are recovering from a Monday night burglary that some said could have been worse. The building at 2970 Kele Street is the latest in a string of Lihue
LIHUE — Many of the 30 tenants at the Lihue Plantation Building are recovering from a Monday night burglary that some said could have been worse.
The building at 2970 Kele Street is the latest in a string of Lihue business burglaries, according to John Gillen, building manager. The burglars broke into a fire-exit door and then into the internal office doors.
“Nobody reported a loss of a significant size, and no one lost any equipment,” Gillen said. “It was nothing other than cash and all that was in the building at the time was petty cash.”
After speaking with police, Gillen said he was informed the break-in fit the pattern of a string of similar break-ins around the downtown Lihue area over the past few weeks.
“There was minimal damage,” Gillen said in a phone interview from Home Depot where he was getting new doorlocks.
“It was just damage to the locks and that’s it,” said Andrea Lincoln, a staff member of Palms Hawaii Architects.
Palmer Hafdahl, architect at Palms Hawaii Architects, said drawers were broken into, as if someone was looking for cash.
Gina Kaulukukui of Life’s Bridges said they have one of the smallest offices and for some reason the burglars went through all the cabinets. She was just happy they didn’t take anything.
The contribution envelopes from a recent fundraiser were in the office and all were opened. Fortunately, the donations had already been deposited.
“Clearly, it looked like they were looking for cash, and I think they were quite disappointed that they were in the wrong office,” Kaulukukui said.
Police arrived around the time the earliest tenants came to work and discovered the damage around 7 a.m., she said.
It was amazing how many offices the burglars got to because there were people in the building later than 9 p.m., and there earlier than 7 a.m. The early arrivals called the police and four detectives responded with the crime scene specialists, she said.
“The police did an amazing job,” Kaulukukui said. “They responded right away and they had a plan when they got here and they executed that plan. They were thorough, efficient calming, reassuring.”
