Four Lincoln veterinary clinics burglarized; funds, drugs stolen

Burglars broke into four Lincoln veterinary clinics Monday night and early Tuesday morning, police said, taking cash and injectable drugs.

Ketaset and the related drug Ketamine were taken from two of the clinics, police said.

Known as "Special K," the drug causes mild hallucinations and is popular at "rave" dance parties.

Parkview Animal Hospital, 3201 S. 10th St., and the Animal Care Clinic, 255 S. 84th St., both reported losses of cash and drugs.

Williamsburg Veterinary Clinic, 6041 S. 40th St., lost only cash from the break-in while the Belmont Veterinary Center, 2200 Cornhusker Hwy., reported no loss.

An alarm sounded at 11:40 p.m. Monday night at the Belmont Veterinary Center, alerting officers to a break-in, Finnell said.

Officers responding to the alarm found the back door of the clinic kicked in.

The break-in caused $200 in damage to the clinic. Finnell said the alarm might have forced the burglars to leave the building before taking anything.

An alarm at another clinic was triggered by burglars Tuesday morning, but police did not receive the message, Finnell said.

Burglars entered the Williamsburg Clinic and triggered an alarm, Finnell said, at 2:15 a.m.

The clinic's head technician, Todd Porter, said the burglars took around $2,000 in checks and traveler's checks from the clinic's register and about $150 in cash.

"Our alarm went off in the front office," Porter said. "It didn't even look like our pharmacy was touched."

Porter said the burglars entered through a window, and he did not know the total estimate damage caused by the break-in.

Finnell said burglars entered the Parkview Animal Hospital through a skylight between 8:10 p.m. Monday and 7:30 a.m. Tuesday causing $500 in damages.

The intruders took $539 worth of Ketamine and Xylazine, Finnell said.

Finnell said it was not known what effect Xylazine would have on humans.

Kimberly Weber, a veterinarian at Parkview, said the burglars took steroids and vaccine but no narcotics.

"All of the controlled drugs are in the safe, and they didn't get any of those," Weber said. "They didn't touch our computers. They didn't touch any of our valuables. They were after drugs."

Weber said the burglars also took about $20.

Burglars entered the Animal Care Clinic through a bathroom window, Veterinary Technician Kim Carnes said, and took between $80 and $100 in Valium and Ketaset.

Finnell said Ketaset was similar to Ketamine.

Carnes said the burglars broke through two locks to get the drugs.

Police have not made any arrests in connection to the burglaries, Finnell said.