Thieves break into Santa Maria Valley Historical Society Museum stealing donations and equipment

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – Thieves recently broke into the Santa Maria Valley Historical Society Museum and stole an estimated $2,000 worth of donations and equipment from the non-profit organization.

"We all felt very shocked and violated that, you know, someone had come and rummaged through our things," said Shelley Klein, Santa Maria Valley Historical Society Curator.

Early Friday morning, it's believed as many as two people pried open a front window to enter the building and stole items from the museum's office space.

"They took a laptop, a tablet, our card reader, they took our camera, they took like the batteries, 300 stamps,” listed Klein.

Other items, donations, membership checks and a scrapbook were also missing after the break-in.

“We were shocked. But fortunately, we found our alarm did work. And so they, I guess, ran,” said Klein.

The thieves ran with about $2,000 worth of items, a significant amount of money for the nearly all-volunteer-operated facility.

"This isn't good for us," said Klein. "Being $2,000 down is almost a month's operating expenses, so we're going to have to figure out a way to recoup that loss and even a little more."

It appears thieves did not take anything from the main floor of the museum, leaving all of these historical objects – some of them dating back more than 150 years – in place and undisturbed.

“That was a good thing because we do have things here that are priceless and irreplaceable," said Klein. "Many people asked us if we had lost any other artifacts, and so luckily, no.”

As news of the theft spreads, it's leaving many in the community upset and frustrated.

"It's disappointing to see that. However, it's not surprising we've come to a place where people kind of help themselves to what they think they want and it's sad," said Julie Jorge, Orcutt Wine and Design owner.

Jorge said she wants to help out and is hoping others will follow suit, perhaps in a community-driven fundraiser.

“If we could get the businesses in Santa Maria. We do business here. We live here. Our friends are here," said Jorge. "If we could just come together and just rally around the historical society museum, we could make a difference. It's not something that we can't overcome if we come together.”

The museum is planning an online fundraising campaign as well, and also plans to install security cameras sometime soon.