REGIONAL - In the last two months, thousands of dollars in cash have been stolen from veterans' posts throughout the panhandle.

In late August, burglars took $3500 from 'Amvets' post 231 in Bay County.

About five weeks ago, American Legion Post 340 in Pensacola was hit for $1,150.

Then last weekend, there were two more break-ins within 24 hours.

Channel Three's Laura Hussey takes us to one of the posts that was hit.

This is the office at Amvets Post 35 in Crestview. You can see the door took quite a beating when burglars broke in here sometime overnight Saturday. Dixie Way was the first one to find the damage.

She's the post custodian, but it's a labor of love. Amvets post 35 in Crestview is named after Dixie way's husband and father in law.

Dixie "It really upset my husband. It was like he was almost in tears. It just broke his heart to know someone broke in."

There was no sign of forced entry to an outside door.

But the safe, and the room where it's stored, had been ransacked.

Dixie "I looked that direction toward the office, and I says Oh my God, you know, I just ... everything was flipped over."

JR Etheridge "The safe had been cut into with some kind of circular saw, and everything that was inside it was all over the floor, the check books, paperwork."

Post Commander Jr Ethridge says bank bags containing over $3,500 dollars in cash were gone.

It's money that would have helped pay for charity projects.

JR Ethridge "It's really disturbing. It's not that they're just stealing from the veterans, they're stealing from the community also."

Ethridge thinks the thieves either picked the lock or had a key, but he can't believe it's an inside job.

JR Ethridge "I wouldn't think it was someone from inside this post. Because a veteran would not do that to another veteran, especially knowing what we do with that money, as far as how we support our community with that money."

American Legion Post 221 in Niceville was also burglarized over the weekend.

Niceville Police won't say how much money was taken.

But they're working with Crestview Police because of similarities in the cases.

The Pensacola and Bay County burglaries are still under investigation.Recent String of Amvets Burglaries