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String of overnight burglaries in Bucks County leaves small business owners on edge

Small business owners in parts of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, are taking extra security precautions after a string of burglaries left several storefronts damaged.

The front door of Voltage Bikes in Upper Makefield Township is boarded up after someone smashed through in the early morning hours of Jan. 2. Police said they believe the same burglars broke into Francisco's on the River, a restaurant about two miles away, and stole cash.

But the break-ins didn't stop there. Police believe the suspects also broke into Station Cleaners, a dry cleaner in the nearby borough of Yardley, on Jan. 4.

"It seems they go to businesses closed at night that have no overnight hours," Yardley Police Chief William J. Golden III. "They are vulnerable businesses."

Golden said the suspects may be responsible for as many as five commercial break-ins, including a bakery in Hamilton, New Jersey, and a business in Warrington in recent weeks. He said detectives are closing in on one of the suspects, thanks to a witness who called 911 with a vehicle description.

"We definitely want to make sure we get this person where he belongs and to prevent this from happening again here," Golden said. "We in the community here are very tight knit, so when something like this happens in the area of Yardley Borough, it's a big concern."

Business owners are on heightened alert after the break-ins.

"It's just crazy," Shenley Schneider, co-owner of Ye Olde Yardley Florist & Flower Delivery in Yardley, said. "I feel like whoever was doing it was targeting small businesses that don't have the best security, and that's just heartbreaking."

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