Break-ins plague Veterans Community Center in Citrus Heights

By Sara Beth Williams–
A newly built storage shed at the Veterans Community Center in Citrus Heights was broken into for the third time this year.

According to the center’s facilities manager, the shed has been broken into several times, the most recent being over the weekend of Nov. 17 and 18.

Over that weekend, Veterans Community Center facilities manager Vince Robles said thieves broke a window, tore through a screen, and stole multiple items, including various hand tools, an air compressor, an air gun, air hoses, and extension cords.

Robles said construction on the new shed began in May of this year and that since then, there have been multiple items stolen.

“They got a lot of tools the last time they broke in,” Robles said, referencing a previous break-in earlier in the fall. Robles said there is nothing they can do but report, and he suspects people may be climbing over the fence behind the property to access the shed. The community center has an electric gate and other fencing surrounding the entrance.

Police logs confirm that a report for burglary was taken Monday morning, Nov. 19, around 10:40 a.m. at the Veterans Community Center.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do. It’s very devastating,” Veterans Community Center owner Jeanne Rounsavell said Tuesday, adding that the security cameras, which point to the shed, were not working at the time of the break-in. Robles said he spent a couple of hours on the phone with the camera company following the break-in, in an attempt to bring the cameras back online.

The Veterans Community Center is a self-funded nonprofit established by James and Jeanne Rounsavell in 2011. According to its website, the center currently serves 150 veterans monthly by providing meals twice a week.

The Veterans Community Center is closed for the week of Thanksgiving.