ANDERSON — The executive director of a nonprofit that serves pets and their owners in two Indiana counties says they will not live in fear after someone burglarized their storefront.
Ring video from Ambassadors for God's Creatures shows someone entering their building on Dec. 27 around 2:30 a.m. The group just moved into the space off of 8th Street in October.
Ambassadors executive director Susan Blake arrived later that morning to find the bottom pane of the door punched out and the door cracked.
"The door was unlocked and then I went inside and saw all this glass all over the floor, and then all the wires from where our cash register was were just laying over the counter," Blake told WRTV.
Video shows the person walking around and rummaging through a drawer. Blake says after the video stopped, the person was able to walk out with the cash register.
"I was very, very angry when I saw that video. It just felt like such a violation to, you know, have somebody come in our space like that," Blake said. "He acted like he had been there before, so we're kind of wondering if he had scoped us out. He knew exactly where he was walking, going, what he was looking for, and so we're pretty angry and felt really discouraged."
The work Ambassadors for God's Creation does to try to reduce the pet overpopulation in Madison and Delaware Counties is continuing. The organization runs a thrift shop, pet food pantry and provides assistance to those who want to get their pets spayed or neutered. Since 2017, Ambassadors for God's Creation has helped finance 6,000 surgeries.
On the same day of the burglary, local salon owner Paula Mottweiler of The Hair Company presented a donation after a monthlong fundraiser. She had no idea what had happened earlier in the day.
"She's just restored ... just the hope, you know? We were feeling really down and thought well there's just so much evil in the world, we just celebrated Christmas, people were happy, and then we come into that. Paula just kind of filled the day," Blake said. "It's been an emotional roller coaster, really, for the last 24 hours."
Anderson Police tell WRTV the case has been assigned to the Criminal Investigation Division.
