Recently, there's been a rash of break ins at local Biggby Coffee Shops.

"We don't understand it, we don't keep a lot of cash and we're frustrated," Deb Kirchen said.

Tom and Deb Kirchen own four Biggby coffee franchises, their St. Johns location was hit twice in three months, their Grand Ledge location hit twice in six days.

"It's frustrating because when you have several stores, you'll be awake at night waiting for a phone call which is very disturbing," Tom Kirchen said.

In all, more than 20 Mid Michigan Biggby's have been broken into in the past year, police believe they're connected.

"They are similar into the way they broke in, similar in knowing the operations of various businesses," St. Johns Police Chief Michael Madden said.

Then a break in the case. Lt. Michael Carey arrests two people he believes are responsible for the break ins St. Johns -- one St. Johns man, and one from Lansing, both in their 20s.

"Based on interviews, it came out that the Lansing individual was involved in ours as well as several others in the tri-county area," Lt. Michael Carey said.

Police say he certainly didn't act alone -- at least eight other people could be arrested -- including one juvenile.

But, police asked us not to name either man charged because investigations are still on-going in Okemos, Holt, Grand Ledge, East Lansing, Lansing, even Mt. Pleasant.

"Our end of it, we solved the crime and people have been charged in court of law," Chief Madden said. "However, it's become so far reaching to other communities, we know we have to allow them to complete their investigations so the whole story can be told."

Lansing police believe arrests could come as soon as next week.

The Kirchen's feel relieved.

"We're trying to reassure our staff that they are safe," Deb Kirchen said. "I think [thieves] are finding out that with security cameras and security systems, it's easy to catch them and there will be eight more behind bars soon I hope."

Police couldn't say how much the group stole from Biggbys, but they know it's in the thousands of dollars.

They also wouldn't go so far as to say a former employee is involved -- but they did say this group had inside information on how Biggby's operated and used it to their advantage.