An employee of the Pet Haven pet shop at 19 W. U.S. Highway 6 in Liberty Township has been charged with burglary in connection with several break-ins of the business, the Porter County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said.

Robin D. Michaels, 25, of 604 W. Indiana Ave. in Chesterton, was charged on Sept. 10 with one count of burglary, a Class C felony punishable by a term of two to eight years.

According to the probable cause affidavit filed by Det. Steven Rose of the Porter County Sheriff’s Police, on Sept. 9 an officer was dispatched to Pet Haven in response to a report of recent thefts from the business. There the officer spoke with the owner, who advised that “recently numerous pet supply items had come up missing from the store and that there had been break-ins to the business.”

The owner further advised that an anonymous caller had said that one of her employees, Michaels, was “responsible for the missing items.”

Later in the day on Sept. 9, Rose stated in his affidavit, Michaels was interviewed, “acknowledged numerous break-ins of the business, the latest of which was Sept. 6,” and admitted having taken cash and several hundred dollars worth of pet supplies.

Michaels also gave investigators permission to search his Chesterton residence and “numerous pet supplies determined to belong to Pet Haven” were recovered there, Rose stated.

Posted 9/18/2009