It’s happening again in the Loop. Chicago police are warning the public about a series of gold chain snatchings that have unfolded across Grant Park, the Riverwalk, and nearby streets — a crime pattern strikingly similar to the outbreak of necklace robberies that plagued downtown one year ago.
According to an alert issued by CPD, groups of men and women have been targeting people who are walking alone, usually during daylight hours. The robbers snatch gold necklaces and chains from their victims’ necks before fleeing.
The robberies have been spread across a three-week period:
- August 1, 9:30 p.m. — 1100 block of South Columbus Drive
- August 2, 9:45 p.m. — 200 block of East Balbo Drive
- August 11, 3:44 p.m. — 300 block of South Columbus Drive
- August 13, 5:25 p.m. — 300 block of East Wacker Drive
- August 22, 8:43 a.m. — First block of East Wacker Drive
- August 22, 8:48 a.m. — First block of East Wacker Drive
- August 22, 11:00 a.m. — 200 block of East Roosevelt Drive
- August 29, 4:12 p.m. — 100 to 200 block of East Wacker Drive
Police said the offenders include one to four Hispanic men and women, ages 20 to 40, and an African American man described as wearing a black T-shirt, blue jeans, and white gym shoes.
Perhaps coincidentally, there was a similar robbery reported on the Far North Side on Monday afternoon. At about 1:30 p.m. someone snatched a gold chain off a grandmother’s neck in the 1900 block of West Norwood. The attacker, described as a Black woman around 40 to 45 years old, about 5-foot-2 and 170 to 180 pounds, fled in a white station wagon with a rainbow-dotted head wrap covering her hair. Witnesses said a child may have been in the car.
The timing of this year’s spree recalls last year’s outbreak, which began around Lollapalooza and spread along the lakefront, through the Loop, and eventually into the Clybourn Corridor. Victims then, like now, were primarily walking alone when they were surrounded or approached by groups of offenders who ripped gold necklaces from their necks. Last year’s robbers escaped on bikes or scooters.
A migrant was charged with one of those robberies. He received a 3-year sentence in June.
Anyone with information about the latest robberies is asked to contact Area Three detectives at 312-744-8263 or submit an anonymous tip at CPDTIP.com using reference #P25-3-036A.
