Police Investigate Ties Between Recent Chicago Area Car Dealership Break-Ins

Authorities are investigating whether an early morning break-in at a car dealership on the Northwest side of Chicago is connected to similar crimes that have occurred in the Chicago area in recent weeks, including the Sunday night break-in at Libertyville’s Gregory Infiniti.

Surveillance video showed five masked thieves broke into Marino Chrysler Jeep Dodge in the Portage Park neighborhood at about 1:39 a.m. Tuesday, authorities told ABC 7 Chicago. The thieves could not find the keys, so no cars were stolen, and the suspects fled before Chicago police arrived.

No one is in custody, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The break-in comes days after thieves broke the glass door on the north side of Gregory Infiniti, 1121 South Milwaukee Avenue in Libertyville, and got away with five luxury vehicles. Those vehicles were collectively valued at more than $205,000.

After fleeing the scene of the Libertyville car dealership, authorities in Racine County, Wis., spotted the vehicles driving north on Interstate 94 and attempted to pull one of them over. That vehicle fled, crashed and the thieves, who authorities believed to be teens, fled on foot.

• READ MORE: 5 Luxury Vehicles Stolen From Libertyville Dealership, 1 Crashes in WI After Police Chase

The Libertyville Police Department is working with the local dealership to see if its security cameras captured any surveillance footage of the weekend break-in, Libertyville Police Department Lt. Bill Kinast told Patch Tuesday morning. Authorities are also waiting to see if the vehicle involved in the accident in Wisconsin has any evidence in it that would give detectives a clue as to who committed this crime, Kinast said.

Also in recent weeks, cars were also stolen from an Infiniti dealership in Clarendon Hills, from the Autobarn Mazda in Evanston and from a Mercedes dealership in Glencoe, according to the Chicago Tribune.

• READ MORE: 6 Cars Reported Stolen in Clarendon Hills
• READ MORE: In Evanston Autobarn Robbery, Police Release Photos of Suspects

Five cars were also stolen from the Porsche Exchange in Highland Park in January.

And in December, a rash of similar dealership break-ins occurred in the Portage Park neighborhood in Chicago, ABC 7 reports. One juvenile was caught during those break-ins and police suspected teens working in groups of three and six were responsible for those crimes.

Area agencies are working together to see if the crimes are connected. Besides the Chicago area thefts and break-ins, Kinast said similar crimes also occurred recently in the Milwaukee area and in Kenosha, Wis., and Racine, Wis.

“We are working with numerous departments to piece this together and to see if the same crews or different crews were involved (in other similar break-ins),” Kinast said.

More via ABC 7 and Chicago Tribune

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