An epidemic of recent burglaries of businesses within the Cortez city limits could have been committed by the same person or persons, Cortez Police Chief Roy Lane said Monday.

"I’m sure that the (burglaries) are probably all connected. The investigation is still continuing," Lane said.

According to police reports, the Hunan Restaurant and the Days Inn both reported break-ins on Sept. 12 and the Handy Washamart reported another break-in on Sept. 14.

In each of the incidents, the perpetrator tried to break open mechanical devices such as the coin-operated washing mach-ines as well as the cash registers in order to steal cash or change.

At the Hunan Restaurant, the robber (or robbers) stole all the rolls of change, which amounted to between $1,000 and $1,200 and also broke a cash register valued at $250.

During the Days Inn break-in the burglar or burglars broke several washing machines in an attempt to steal change, according to the police report.

However, all of the change had been removed prior to the robbery attempt.

Damage to the washing machines had not yet been estimated at the time of the police report.

During the Sept. 14 break-in to the Handy Washamart, the burglar broke a window and stole a toolbox valued at $300.

The perpetrator also broke into the business office; however, all the money had been removed at the end of the day, the police report said.

Because of the close proximity of the businesses and the attempts to pry open the coin-operated machines, police said that there was a chance that the break-ins had been done by the same person.

A fourth burglary occurred at the McPhee Marina and Restaurant on Sept. 14, when someone broke into the marina and stole several pieces of computer equipment, radios and money.

The items and money were valued at $5,042.15, the sheriff’s report said.

However, Lt. Detective Kalvin Boggs of the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office said that he did not think that the marina break-in was connected to the others within the Cortez city limits.