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| Three burglars enter Johnny Sprockets bike shop in Lakeview early Sunday. | Johnny Sprockets |
Since mid-January, a small group of high-end bicycle retailers from Lincoln Park to Lakeview to Lincoln Square has been repeatedly targeted by burglars who strike between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. And it seems that nobody can stop them.
Around 4:20 this morning, Cycle Smithy at 2468-1/2 North Fullerton was burglarized for the second time in a month.
A taxi driver told police that he saw four black males in their 20’s wearing dark hoodies emerge from the store with about five bicycles that they then hauled away using two cars: a Chevy Impala and a gray Nissan Sentra. The witness reported that he followed the two vehicles as they turned east on Fullerton, then south on Lake Shore Drive.
This morning’s break-in comes after three burglars made off with four high-end bikes from Johnny Sprockets, 3140 North Broadway, at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday.
And last Tuesday, the Turin bike shop at 4710 North Damen was burglarized for the third time since Jan. 12th.
On Jan. 28th, police issued a community alert warning bike retailers of the emerging pattern after Turin and Cycle Smithy were burglarized within days of each other.
The thieves have been entering stores by breaking through front door glass and even compromising the new metal gates that Turin installed after their second break-in last month.
