South Side gang members stole dozens of luxury cars from suburbs
Authorities believe at least seventy vehicles — BMWs, Audis, Range Rovers and Infinitis — were pilfered by a loosely organized Chicago theft ring this year. | Sun-Times file photo
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Wealthy suburbanites, you may want to put your car keys away.
South Side thieves have targeted luxury cars in forty wealthy towns across the Chicago area from Lake Forest to Barrington to Hinsdale, officials say.
The bandits slipped into unlocked cars and drove away using keys or fobs they found inwards cup holders or consoles.
Authorities believe at least seventy vehicles — BMWs, Audis, Range Rovers and Infinitis — were pilfered by a loosely organized Chicago theft ring this year.
Most have been recovered in South Side neighborhoods. One proprietor couldn’t recognize his car because the thieves had tinted the windows.
Police have arrested about fifteen suspects, most of them juvenile gang members. Detectives believe they were using the cars while committing armed robberies and shooting at rival gang members.
Movie displayed a black Audi that was stolen from Lake Forest hitting speeds of more than one hundred twenty five mph on Interstate ninety four while the passengers flapped guns out of the window. A Lincoln stolen in Burr Ridge in July was later spotted at crime scenes in St. Charles, Lake Forest and Barrington before it was recovered in Chicago, police say.
The thefts began on a cold winter day on the South Side after gang members searched Google for mansions they could target, Chicago Police Lt. Ed Wodnicki said.
“They leaped in a car at two a.m. and drove to the northern suburbs,” he said. “They walked up driveways to these nice houses. They would attempt the car door and find keys in the cup holder. These cars were ready to be stolen.”
On Aug. 9, Wodnicki was conducting a nibble involving a laptop computer stolen in the northern suburbs. A tracking device showcased the computer was on the South Side.
Police set up a ruse, suggesting $500 for the recovery of the computer. Wodnicki dressed in civilian clothes and met a man who sought the prize.
Wodnicki arrested the man in a bank parking lot. Wodnicki found a loaded .40-caliber pistol and a high-capacity magazine in the car the man was driving.
The man confessed to the computer theft and then spilled the beans on the luxury car theft scheme, Wodnicki said. He’s expected to be charged in federal court with being an armed habitual offender.
On Aug. 12, the Chicago Police organized a task force with suburban police departments to investigate the thefts.
On the Thursday and Friday before Labor Day, officers drove via the South Side with license plate scanners and recovered twenty luxury cars that were stolen from the suburbs, Wodnicki said. Of the seventy cars stolen this year, about half a dozen haven’t been recovered yet, he said.
Oddly, the ring wasn’t selling the cars to chop shops for parts. Instead, they were using them in crimes and then dumping them, Wodnicki said.
After they would steal cars, “one of the other things these brain surgeons did was burglaries in liquor stores,” Wodnicki said.
He said the suspects were captured on surveillance cameras stealing booze, which permitted police to identify them in the car thefts.
Wodnicki wouldn’t confirm whether the ring stole a sports car that resulted in a police-involved shooting in Chicago this summer.
But he said: “It sure looks to us that any vehicle that you steal out of the rich suburbs and we find on the South Side are part of this pattern.”
On July 28, Chicago Police officers chased a two thousand two Jaguar convertible that was stolen from Bolingbrook. An officer fatally shot Paul O’Neal, the 18-year-old driver, after a foot pursue in the seven thousand three hundred block of South Merrill in the South Shore neighborhood.
Moments earlier, officers had fired at the Jaguar, which crashed into a police vehicle. The three officers who fired their weapons have been placed on desk duty while the Independent Police Review Authority investigates.
Just before that incident, police had been pursuing a stolen BMW in the same area.
Wodnicki said most of the thieves belong to one of four gang factions on the South Side. The purloined cars were recovered in four South Side police districts: Wentworth, Grand Crossing, South Chicago and Calumet, he said.
South Side gang members stole dozens of luxury cars from suburbs, Chicago Sun-Times
South Side gang members stole dozens of luxury cars from suburbs
Authorities believe at least seventy vehicles — BMWs, Audis, Range Rovers and Infinitis — were pilfered by a loosely organized Chicago theft ring this year. | Sun-Times file photo
Sign-Up for our News & Politics Newsletter Sign-Up
Wealthy suburbanites, you may want to put your car keys away.
South Side thieves have targeted luxury cars in forty wealthy towns across the Chicago area from Lake Forest to Barrington to Hinsdale, officials say.
The bandits slipped into unlocked cars and drove away using keys or fobs they found inwards cup holders or consoles.
Authorities believe at least seventy vehicles — BMWs, Audis, Range Rovers and Infinitis — were pilfered by a loosely organized Chicago theft ring this year.
Most have been recovered in South Side neighborhoods. One proprietor couldn’t recognize his car because the thieves had tinted the windows.
Police have arrested about fifteen suspects, most of them juvenile gang members. Detectives believe they were using the cars while committing armed robberies and shooting at rival gang members.
Movie displayed a black Audi that was stolen from Lake Forest hitting speeds of more than one hundred twenty five mph on Interstate ninety four while the passengers flapped guns out of the window. A Lincoln stolen in Burr Ridge in July was later spotted at crime scenes in St. Charles, Lake Forest and Barrington before it was recovered in Chicago, police say.
The thefts commenced on a cold winter day on the South Side after gang members searched Google for mansions they could target, Chicago Police Lt. Ed Wodnicki said.
“They leaped in a car at two a.m. and drove to the northern suburbs,” he said. “They walked up driveways to these nice houses. They would attempt the car door and find keys in the cup holder. These cars were ready to be stolen.”
On Aug. 9, Wodnicki was conducting a bite involving a laptop computer stolen in the northern suburbs. A tracking device showcased the computer was on the South Side.
Police set up a ruse, suggesting $500 for the recovery of the computer. Wodnicki dressed in civilian clothes and met a man who sought the prize.
Wodnicki arrested the man in a bank parking lot. Wodnicki found a loaded .40-caliber pistol and a high-capacity magazine in the car the man was driving.
The man confessed to the computer theft and then spilled the beans on the luxury car theft scheme, Wodnicki said. He’s expected to be charged in federal court with being an armed habitual offender.
On Aug. 12, the Chicago Police organized a task force with suburban police departments to investigate the thefts.
On the Thursday and Friday before Labor Day, officers drove across the South Side with license plate scanners and recovered twenty luxury cars that were stolen from the suburbs, Wodnicki said. Of the seventy cars stolen this year, about half a dozen haven’t been recovered yet, he said.
Oddly, the ring wasn’t selling the cars to chop shops for parts. Instead, they were using them in crimes and then dumping them, Wodnicki said.
After they would steal cars, “one of the other things these brain surgeons did was burglaries in liquor stores,” Wodnicki said.
He said the suspects were captured on surveillance cameras stealing booze, which permitted police to identify them in the car thefts.
Wodnicki wouldn’t confirm whether the ring stole a sports car that resulted in a police-involved shooting in Chicago this summer.
But he said: “It sure looks to us that any vehicle that you steal out of the rich suburbs and we find on the South Side are part of this pattern.”
On July 28, Chicago Police officers chased a two thousand two Jaguar convertible that was stolen from Bolingbrook. An officer fatally shot Paul O’Neal, the 18-year-old driver, after a foot pursue in the seven thousand three hundred block of South Merrill in the South Shore neighborhood.
Moments earlier, officers had fired at the Jaguar, which crashed into a police vehicle. The three officers who fired their weapons have been placed on desk duty while the Independent Police Review Authority investigates.
Just before that incident, police had been pursuing a stolen BMW in the same area.
Wodnicki said most of the thieves belong to one of four gang factions on the South Side. The purloined cars were recovered in four South Side police districts: Wentworth, Grand Crossing, South Chicago and Calumet, he said.
South Side gang members stole dozens of luxury cars from suburbs, Chicago Sun-Times
South Side gang members stole dozens of luxury cars from suburbs
Authorities believe at least seventy vehicles — BMWs, Audis, Range Rovers and Infinitis — were pilfered by a loosely organized Chicago theft ring this year. | Sun-Times file photo
Sign-Up for our News & Politics Newsletter Sign-Up
Wealthy suburbanites, you may want to put your car keys away.
South Side thieves have targeted luxury cars in forty wealthy towns across the Chicago area from Lake Forest to Barrington to Hinsdale, officials say.
The bandits slipped into unlocked cars and drove away using keys or fobs they found inwards cup holders or consoles.
Authorities believe at least seventy vehicles — BMWs, Audis, Range Rovers and Infinitis — were pilfered by a loosely organized Chicago theft ring this year.
Most have been recovered in South Side neighborhoods. One holder couldn’t recognize his car because the thieves had tinted the windows.
Police have arrested about fifteen suspects, most of them juvenile gang members. Detectives believe they were using the cars while committing armed robberies and shooting at rival gang members.
Movie displayed a black Audi that was stolen from Lake Forest hitting speeds of more than one hundred twenty five mph on Interstate ninety four while the passengers flapped guns out of the window. A Lincoln stolen in Burr Ridge in July was later spotted at crime scenes in St. Charles, Lake Forest and Barrington before it was recovered in Chicago, police say.
The thefts began on a cold winter day on the South Side after gang members searched Google for mansions they could target, Chicago Police Lt. Ed Wodnicki said.
“They hopped in a car at two a.m. and drove to the northern suburbs,” he said. “They walked up driveways to these nice houses. They would attempt the car door and find keys in the cup holder. These cars were ready to be stolen.”
On Aug. 9, Wodnicki was conducting a bite involving a laptop computer stolen in the northern suburbs. A tracking device displayed the computer was on the South Side.
Police set up a ruse, suggesting $500 for the recovery of the computer. Wodnicki dressed in civilian clothes and met a man who sought the prize.
Wodnicki arrested the man in a bank parking lot. Wodnicki found a loaded .40-caliber pistol and a high-capacity magazine in the car the man was driving.
The man confessed to the computer theft and then spilled the beans on the luxury car theft scheme, Wodnicki said. He’s expected to be charged in federal court with being an armed habitual offender.
On Aug. 12, the Chicago Police organized a task force with suburban police departments to investigate the thefts.
On the Thursday and Friday before Labor Day, officers drove across the South Side with license plate scanners and recovered twenty luxury cars that were stolen from the suburbs, Wodnicki said. Of the seventy cars stolen this year, about half a dozen haven’t been recovered yet, he said.
Oddly, the ring wasn’t selling the cars to chop shops for parts. Instead, they were using them in crimes and then dumping them, Wodnicki said.
After they would steal cars, “one of the other things these brain surgeons did was burglaries in liquor stores,” Wodnicki said.
He said the suspects were captured on surveillance cameras stealing booze, which permitted police to identify them in the car thefts.
Wodnicki wouldn’t confirm whether the ring stole a sports car that resulted in a police-involved shooting in Chicago this summer.
But he said: “It sure looks to us that any vehicle that you steal out of the rich suburbs and we find on the South Side are part of this pattern.”
On July 28, Chicago Police officers chased a two thousand two Jaguar convertible that was stolen from Bolingbrook. An officer fatally shot Paul O’Neal, the 18-year-old driver, after a foot pursue in the seven thousand three hundred block of South Merrill in the South Shore neighborhood.
Moments earlier, officers had fired at the Jaguar, which crashed into a police vehicle. The three officers who fired their weapons have been placed on desk duty while the Independent Police Review Authority investigates.
Just before that incident, police had been pursuing a stolen BMW in the same area.
Wodnicki said most of the thieves belong to one of four gang factions on the South Side. The purloined cars were recovered in four South Side police districts: Wentworth, Grand Crossing, South Chicago and Calumet, he said.