CONWAY – For one Northampton County family, Hurricane Irene was the least of their worries.

Other than being forced to live without electrical power due to the storm, Gary and Michelle Dilley’s home on Dusty Hill Road, a two-lane rural blacktop that knifes through the heart of Northampton County between Potecasi and Jackson, suffered no structural damage from Irene’s effects. Rather it was thieves that left the family reeling in the storm’s aftermath.

The Northampton County Sheriff’s Office is currently investigating a break-in at the Dilley home, one that apparently occurred Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. Not only did the thieves make off with electronic items (52-inch TV and an I-Pad Touch), they also tore into the family’s heart by stealing sentimental items. Guns and a guitar are also missing.

“They stole a safe that contained my grandmother’s and great grandmother’s old jewelry,” Mrs. Dilley said. “That safe also contained my two-year-old daughter’s baptism certificate and the socks, bow and necklace she wore that day.”

Additionally, the safe contained birth certificates, Social Security cards and other sentimental items.

Dilley said she, her husband and daughter spent Wednesday night at the home of a relative because electrical power had yet to be restored at their home.

“When I returned home Thursday morning around 10 a.m. to let my dogs out before I went to work, I found my kitchen door window had been smashed and the door was unlocked. Someone had broken into our home,” Dilley said.

She immediately contacted the Sheriff’s Office who dispatched a deputy to investigate as well as taking fingerprints.

“The person or persons who broke into my home not only stole material goods from us, they also stole our sense of security,” Dilley said. “It will be a long, long time before I feel safe staying alone in my own home again.”

The family is offering a $1,000 reward for tips leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for burglarizing their home.

“I don’t want someone else to have to experience what we experienced upon returning home Thursday morning,” Dilley said. “I am hoping by offering this reward someone will come forward with information and the person or persons who committed this crime can be held responsible for this, getting them off the streets and giving us a sense of security back.”

Northampton County Sheriff’s Detective Captain D. M. Harmon acknowledged the breaking and entering/larceny case at the Dilley residence. He said that was one of several cases currently under investigation by the Sheriff’s Office.