Crime & Safety
14 Cars Worth Almost $1 Million Stolen From Evanston Dealership
A group of at least six burglars twice returned to the Autobarn Collection in Evanston to steal more cars after breaking in Monday morning.
EVANSTON, IL — A group of at least six car thieves stole more than a dozen high-end vehicles in a brazen heist at an Evanston dealership Monday, police said.
After breaking into the Autobarn Collection, 1910 Greenwood St., around 2 a.m., and disabling the business' audible burglary alarm, the thieves twice returned to drive off with more cars, according to police.
By the time the business opened that morning, the burglary crew had made off with 14 luxury cars worth about $932,000, police said.
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Cars reported stolen included a Maserati, a Porsche, a BMW, multiple Audis and Mercedes and a 2013 Bentley valued at almost $100,000.
"They broke a pane of glass in the overheard door and were able to head through that way," said Evanston Police Cmdr. Ryan Glew.
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"Once they got inside, they defeated the audible alarm," Glew said. "They pried open a safe, grabbed all the keys and were there for about 40 minutes before they started leaving with the vehicles."
The thieves returned shortly before 5 a.m. and stole another batch of cars. They showed up again, around 8 a.m., and drove away with more cars, Glew said, before dealership representatives reported the break-in about an hour later.
"We're following up all potential leads, which includes reviewing surveillance video," Glew said.
Some of the cars have tracking devices installed, according to Autobarn Collection co-partner Sam Mustafa.
"It's just incredible to me the amount of moxie that they had," Mustafa told WLS-TV, "to come back time and time again, taking more cars each time, with no fear."
Many modern cars include built-in trackers, and Glew said such trackers were used to recover some of the cars stolen in a previous dealership burglary, when four BMWs and a Porche were stolen from a Chicago Avenue Autobarn.
This time, there are nearly three times as many stolen cars to recover.
None of the cars have license plates, but their vehicle identification numbers have all been reported as stolen in law enforcement databases.
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