Warmer Weather Seems to Be a Likely Cause for Increased Weekend Theft on Blue Mountain

A series of break-ins and vehicle robberies in the Blue Mountain area have authorities searching for information. Missoula County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Paige Pavalone said one of the incidents was an attempted vehicle break-in.

"We had a couple of incidents that occurred in the Blue Mountain area over the weekend," Pavalone said. "We had an attempted vehicle break-in that resulted in a couple of door handles getting broken on a car while the woman was hiking up McClay flats. We also had vehicle batteries that were stolen from a van that was parked in front of the Elevate Church right there by Blue Mountain Road and 93 South.

Pavalone said that criminals appear to be enjoying the warmer weather too.

"Every year as soon as the weather clears up, people are out and about, and then unfortunately that makes their vehicle vulnerable to people who are looking to prey upon people, and steal things, break into cars and whatnot, and it does," Pavalone said. "Every year the number of vehicle break-ins that we see, and theft, increases exponentially when the weather breaks."

Anyone with information about the break-ins or the theft of the batteries is asked to call Crimestoppers at 721-4444.