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DeWitt County Sheriff Asking Homeowners To Monitor Abandoned Homes

Law enforcement officials are asking residents near abandoned homes to keep an eye on those homes in light of a recent incident in Wapella last week.

This past Friday the DeWitt County Sheriff's Department responded to a burglary in Wapella. The incident took place at an abandoned home in the 200 block of Locust Street. DeWitt County Sheriff Jered Shofner explains this was not just a regular invasion of an abandoned home. He says the home had been stripped of it's metal .

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With the state of the economy currently, the foreclosure rate is quite high and Sheriff Shofner says abandoned homes in the process of foreclosure are easy targets. He notes this has been a focus of the department, and they have gotten good compliance from area scrap yards.

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Because of a high demand overseas for metals such as copper, the cost of those items is extremely high making them very valuable. The loss in this particular burglary was around $9-thousand. Sheriff Shofner encourages residents who see suspicious activity at these abandoned homes to not hesitate calling it in.

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The Sheriff is also imploring those in the Wapella who may have noticed anything from the area of the burglary Friday to contact the Sheriff's office with any information.

To contact the Sheriff's office at 935-9507.

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