Trooper Paul Bard, left, and Corporal Mickey Cizmek of the state police examine a recovered typewriter loaded onto the back of a Dodge Power wagon stolen from Dick Motor Company.

State police busted a four-county burglary ring in 1970 that was believed to be responsible for 39 crimes in the Butler-Armstrong county area with a haul totaling more than $15,000.

The Jan. 31, 1970, edition of the Butler Eagle said the investigation resulted in four arrests in relation to the crimes, with more expected to be made as developments continued.

In addition to various businesses that were burglarized, seven schools in the two counties also were hit by burglaries. Burglars allegedly broke into Chicora Elementary school between Nov. 7 and Nov. 8, 1969, and took $1,100 worth of office equipment. Fenelton Elementary school also had about $700 worth of items stolen in December.

The names of the people arrested for the crimes were not released in January 1970, because police with Butler Criminal Detail and the Kittanning Sub-Station expected to make more arrests in the future.

State police recovered thousands of dollars-worth of items from a burglary ring that stole items from four counties in 1969.