Thieves confront diners at Roscoe Village restaurant, getting away with wallets and purse, CPD report says

A group of thieves entered a Roscoe Village restaurant on Wednesday evening and stole customers’ valuables right off their tables as they enjoyed dinner.

Earlier this month, a similar group stole property from two nail salons in Lincoln Park during business hours.

Most recently, three men walked into a restaurant on the 2300 block of West Roscoe around 8:05 p.m. Wednesday. They held their hands in their pockets, which caused some staff members and customers to suspect they had guns.

The men approached a table where a 69-year-old woman was having dinner and took her purse. Then, they approached a 53-year-old woman who was dining nearby and took her property, too, a CPD spokesperson said.

All three men ran from the restaurant and haven’t been seen since. But a good Samaritan found the older victim’s wallet on a nearby sidewalk and returned it to her, the spokesperson said.

The suspects are three Black males between 17- and 23-years-old who stand 5’8″ tall and weigh about 170 pounds, according to the CPD representative.

Back on December 3, two men entered a nail salon on the 2200 block of North Lincoln around 4:40 p.m. and made their way to a downstairs room where employees keep their personal belongings, CPD spokesperson Kellie Bartoli said.

They took valuables from the room and fled south on Lincoln Avenue.

Bartoli said police had a description of one suspect: a Black male in his 20’s who stands about 6-feet tall and weighs about 180 pounds.

A similar crime was reported at a nail salon on the 2800 block of North Halsted on December 1.

In that case, two men entered the store, and one asked for charitable donations while the other made his way to a back room where he confronted a 72-year-old female employee, Bartoli said.

He reportedly took the woman’s wallet and then fled in a white vehicle with his accomplice.

The suspects in the third incident are two Black males between 15- and 20-years-old who stand 5’7″ to 5’9″ tall and weigh about 170 pounds, Bartoli said. One of them wore a black ski mask.

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