There has been a recent spike in the number of burglaries targeting dental offices in Ocala and Marion County in the past few weeks. Tuesday, authorities looked into two new cases.
Ocala Police have investigated five such cases since December 20th, 2010,
while the Marion County Sheriff's Department has also encountered similar cases.
The back window at Advanced Dental Care, off S.W. 27th Avenue was shattered Tuesday. Sources say prescription drugs were taken. The dental office was closed while crews installed a new window and cleaned the floors of black fingerprint dust.
Around 12 a.m. Tuesday, the alarm at Dental Discovery, located at S.W. 60th Street, was also burglarized.
According to reports, the suspect broke the window to an adjacent, vacant office first. The burglar tried to enter the dental facility by attempting to cut a hole through the drywall. When that failed, the suspect broke Discovery Dental's front window, setting off the alarm.
In the 12 minutes before deputies arrived, the suspect rummaged through file cabinets and located antibiotics. Discovery Dental does not house prescription narcotics on site. The dentist said the suspect did not have access to patients' information since that information is kept in password-protected computer files.
Police believe the four most recent cases in the City are linked.