Theft in Lancaster

A serious theft and a late-night encounter are worrying residents of Lancaster.

On Christmas Day, local beef producer Peter Amstutz returned from visiting family. He found that someone had broken the back window of his house.

Peter Amstutz recently discovered that thieves had stolen more than 1,000 pounds of meat from his farm. They also stole his comp

The thief or thieves took more than 1,000 pounds of meat as well as Amstutz’ computers, DVD player, camera and safe.

Worse still, someone took a jewelry box which belonged to Amstutz’ late wife.

"It’s really a sad story all the way around," he said.

Amstutz added that the cut and wrapped Belted Galloway meat was intended for the Vankleek Hill Farmers’ Market.

Since all the meat was taken, he will now be unable to attend the market when it re-opens on January 10.

"I sent a cow for slaughter today but it will take two weeks," he said. "That meat is a good part of my livelihood."

Another problem is that Amstutz’ records were digital.

His Belted Galloway farm does not use ear identification tags and therefore a lot of the animals’ histories were recorded in a computer file alongside photos of their distinctive marks.

Since the thieves took both his desktop computer towers, Amstutz said the records are now missing.

"It’s a real shame what went on and my objective is to try to recover the meat," he said.

Amstutz said the beef was wrapped in small quantities and uses brown paper with hand-written prices and white tape.

When asked if he had any requests from people in Lancaster, he said anyone who sees a suspicious car should note its license plate, in case that information could be useful to police.

While the theft of 1,000 pounds of meat is unusual, Amstutz is not the only one to have recent encounters with thieves.

On January 2 around 3:30 a.m., his neighbour Doug Rowell happened to be awake and noticed a car approaching his shed on Concession 8.

He then saw a group of people – about four or five he says – exit the car and start entering his shed, which was unlocked.

Rowell said he quickly got dressed and let loose his two Basset Hounds.

He also grabbed a Bowie knife and started running towards the thieves, shouting and hoping to scare them away.

Rowell said he didn’t get closer than 300 feet before the thieves ran towards the car and drove away in the direction of the Quebec border.

Rowell said he couldn’t identify any of the thieves, and said they were driving a small dark-coloured hatchback-style car.

He suspects the thieves were younger people, because "they certainly ran fast," from his barking dogs – who are quite loud despite their small size, he said.

Rowell added that nothing was taken from the shed.

This is Rowell’s second encounter with thieves in only a few weeks.

Four weeks ago, he went to buy cigarettes at a corner store in Dalhousie and left the diesel ignition on his friend’s truck running.

He was in the store for one minute before a thief jumped in and drove away; the result was a 10-kilometre police chase during which the truck was destroyed.

"I haven’t had a good experience here," Rowell said, adding he has lived in Lancaster for three months since moving from Rigaud Quebec.

He also believes the theft at Peter Amstutz’ farm was organized and he suspects the result of a targeted effort to steal meat.

"In the case of my shed, it could be just a random act. But I am thinking in Peter’s case it would have been organized. They knew what they were doing," he said.

Constable Peter Robertson of the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry OPP said there have been a few other thefts in the South Glengarry region, but nothing as major as the theft on Amstutz’ farm.

In December, there was an illegal entry at a summer residence on First Line road in South Glengarry and thieves also stole a small quantity of copper wire from local hydro towers.

Robertson added it is unusual for thieves to steal meat.

"Usually the common items are jewelry, cash and electrical items like cameras and computers," he said.

Anyone with information about the thefts is urged to contact local police.