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Diver's helmet stolen from store's display

The robbery is just one of a handful that recently occurred.

By ROBIN STEIN
Published December 2, 2006

TARPON SPRINGS - An antique diver's helmet worth thousands of dollars was snatched from a storefront display in the third of a spate of bold late-night burglaries along the Pinellas Avenue corridor this week.

The antique helmet, and a second new helmet that retails for $500, were the only items missing from S.B. Katzaras Sponge Company when officers arrived around 5:20 a.m. Wednesday, Tarpon Springs police said. Yet the television, fax machine, computer, even the cash lying in the open register remained inside, apparently untouched.

Police have no suspects, but noted some possible clues lying beneath the shattered display window at 605 N. Pinellas Ave.: a tan cloth and a large chunk of concrete.

Sgt. J. Allen MacKenzie said officers found similar evidence at the scene of another break-in at the Great Wall Chinese Restaurant early Tuesday morning and at Pelican Point Seafood a day earlier. In both of those incidents, the culprits made off with cash, he said.

Fanny Katzaras, 80, said she could not remember how or when her husband had acquired the antique helmet, only that it was a fixture in the store they opened 60 years ago.

[Last modified December 1, 2006, 23:47:01]