Over the last month there have been dozens of dental and medical offices targeted by burglars looking for medical drugs and dental gold, including that used for gold crowns, according to police. Last week our sister site, Phinneywood, reported on one of the more recent burglaries that happened at a medical clinic in the 400 block of North 85th Street.

According to the Seattle Police Department roughly 30-35 overnight burglaries have been reported since the start of September. Most have been north of downtown, but similar burglaries have happened in West Seattle and Bellevue that Seattle Police spokesman Mark Jamieson said could be connected.

One of two similar burglaries that happened early last week was on Queen Anne, in the 600 block of W McGraw St., according to a report by the Seattle PI. According to police, someone had pried open and unscrewed the circular key lock from a metal-framed glass door in the back of the dental office and made off with a metal cash box containing a copy of the owner’s business credit card information. And much like the other recent medical and dental office burglaries, things like computers, electronics, iPods and cameras were not taken.

“They seem to be medical or dental offices. Other than that, there’s no pattern. Once the suspects break into the place, they will take whatever. Sometimes it’s drugs, sometimes it’s gold,” Jamieson said. “They are breaking into places that are alarmed and that doesn’t seem to be a deterrent.”

According to police, one burglary netted $10,000 in scrap gold.

Extra officers have been assigned to emphasis patrols and stakeouts of likely targets, Jamieson said. There is no proof that this recent spell of burglaries are connected, but currently the North Precinct and South Precinct officers are working together to see if these incidences may be related.

According to the West Seattle blog there have been three similar incidents in West Seattle recently, and last Wednesday three people were detained by police after they were seen behaving suspiciously outside a dental office. One was interviewed on the scene and released, the other two were arrested. They have now been identified as “persons of interest.”

For more information on the string of burglaries, read the story at Phinneywood. For more information on the Queen Anne incident, see the Seattle PI.