One after another, the alerts came out, mentioning more than a dozen times that numbskulled (our pronoun, not theirs) drivers had lost their cars after leaving them running and unattended.
In one alert, the department listed ten recent thefts near Lincoln Avenue in the 19th District where “the offender(s) wait until the victims leave their vehicles unattended with the engine running before getting in and driving away.” Cars have been left running “while victims are patronizing stores, paying for gas, delivering goods, or warming up their vehicles,” the alert said.
The Lincoln Avenue pattern includes cars stolen in the following locations and times:
• 1100 Block of West Diversey on January 16, 2018 at 8:00pm.
• 3900 Block of North Lincoln on January 20, 2018 at 5:30pm.
• 2400 Block of North Halsted on January 21, 2018 at 7:00pm.
• 1000 Block of North Altgeld on January 25, 2018 at 7:00pm.
• 3200 Block of North Southport on February 02, 2018 at 7:45am.
• 2700 Block of North Lincoln on February 3, 2018 at 8:35pm.
• 3300 Block of North Lincoln on February 4, 2018 at 6:15pm.
• 4000 Block of North Lincoln on February 5, 2018 at 6:15pm.
• 2900 Block of North Lincoln on February 8, 2018 at 8:00pm.
• 3600 Block of North Ashland on February 9, 2018 at 11:15pm.
Within minutes of the Lincoln Avenue alert, the police department released a second alert for identical crimes being committed around Irving Park Road in the 19th District. After copy-pasting the previous alert’s modus operandi, five recent cases were listed:
• 1400 Block of West Irving Park on January 14, 2018 at 4:45pm.
• 1300 Block of West Irving Park on February 5, 2018 at 5:45pm.
• 4100 Block of North Kenmore on February 7, 2018 at 5:00pm.
• 4000 Block of North Kenmore on February 9, 2018 at 1:15pm.
• 700 Block of West Irving Park on February 11, 2018 at 8:45am.
A Twist
Meanwhile, folks in a couple of other North Side districts are experiencing auto thefts of a different stripe. In the 17th (Albany Park) and 16th (Jefferson Park) Districts, cars are being stolen while turned off and legally parked. Cops say the vehicles have been “stolen by unknown means.” Incidents have been reported in the following locations:
• 4700 Block of North Springfield Avenue from 9:00 pm on January 23, 2018 to
7:00 am on January 24, 2018.
• 3900 Block of West Lawrence on January 24, 2018 at 5:40 pm.
• 4600 Block of North Monticello Avenue from 8:00 pm on January 30, 2018 to
8:00 am on January 31, 2018.
• 3900 Block of West Wilson Avenue on January 31, 2018 at 5:30 pm.
• 3500 Block of West Berteau Avenue on February 6, 2018 at 2:45 pm.
• 3900 Block of West Cullom Avenue on February 8, 2018 at 5:00 pm.
• 4600 Block of North Monticello Avenue on February 8, 2018 at 11:30 pm.
• 5500 block of N. Parkside on January 25, 2018 at 4:00 PM
• 5800 block of N. Mason on January 27, 2018 at 8:05 AM
• 5500 block of N. Mango on January 29-30, 2018 between 6:00 PM – 5:00 AM
• 5700 block of W. Ainslie on January 30-31, 2018 between 7:00 PM – 9:00 AM
• 4400 block of N. Major on February 03, 2018 at 6:30 AM
Cops issued a similar alert about the mysterious thefts of legally-parked cars in the 19th (Town Hall) District last autumn.
