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BYLINE: Samantha Swindler / Managing Editor
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Whitley County/Corbin, KY

KSP requesting surveillance from nearby businesses

Kentucky State Police continue their investigation of a break-in at the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department early Monday morning, but have yet to determine what items were taken.

“I still don’t have an inventory list,” said KSP Det. Bill Correll. “I talked to (Chief Deputy) Tim Shelley this afternoon, and he said he was still trying to get that together. I don’t have an idea of what, if anything, has been taken.”

The thief apparently gained access to the sheriff’s personal office inside the Whitley County Courthouse, where seized guns and drugs are stored inside a locked evidence locker. Correll said he does expect that once the inventory of remaining items is completed, some guns will likely be found missing.

“As soon as I get that (inventory) list, I would like to provide the traceable items, for example firearms, and put that out there to the public in hopes that if those guns have been sold, those people now in possession of those guns will surrender them to us,” Correll said. “It’s very possible some of those guns are out there in circulation and those people have no idea they came from where they came from.”

Correll said he also met with Commonwealth’s Attorney Allen Trimble Tuesday and requested video surveillance from neighboring businesses around the courthouse square. Correll said in an earlier interview that the courthouse has only “limited surveillance” and there were no security devices inside the sheriff’s office.

Correll said investigators believe the culprit had at least one key to get through the three locked doors to reach the evidence locker. There were no signs of forced entry at any of the four exterior doors of the courthouse or to the sheriff’s department, though there were some signs of forced entry inside the sheriff’s personal office, he said. According to Correll, an office worker noticed signs of damage on the office’s main door and contacted Shelley. Sometime around 9 a.m. Monday, KSP was contacted.

Correll also said the crime would have been committed between midnight Sunday and 8 a.m. Monday, when the office worker arrived.

If you have information relating to this case, contact the Kentucky State Police Post 11 at 606-878-6622.

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