3 Charged With Breaking Into Matteson Auto Auction Lot, Trying To Steal Cars
MATTESON, Ill. (CBS) -- Charges were filed Wednesday against two men and a boy in a plot to steal multiple cars from a Matteson auto auction lot.
A fourth participant stole a Matteson police car and bailed after blowing its tire, and remained at large Wednesday night, police said.
Anthony Vickers, 25, of Chicago's East Garfield Park neighborhood, and Lamont Johnson, 20, of the South Chicago neighborhood, were both charged with aggravated possession of a stolen motor vehicle, vehicle theft conspiracy, and criminal damage to property, Matteson police said.
A third suspect, who is a juvenile, was also charged. His case will be heard in Cook County juvenile court.
Around 4:15 p.m. Monday, Matteson police were called to the Greater Chicago Auto Auction, at 20401 Cox Ave., for reports that five people had cut a security fence at the auction lot with bolt cutters. They were trying to steal cars, police said.
Matteson police officers blocked the entrance and exit to the car lot to prevent escape, police said. The suspects were seen getting into a vehicle on the lot and driving around it at a high speed in hopes of getting away, police said.
The thieves drove at and almost struck security guards and police. They then crashed through closed garage doors at the auction atrium in an attempt to escape the lot – but instead ended up wrecking the car, police said.
At that point, the suspects bailed from the car and ran south through the lot, with officers chasing. They jumped the fence on the southeast side of the lot and ran into a subdivision, police said.
A Matteson police officer apprehended one suspect right away. Two more were found soon afterward hiding under a deck and were also arrested, police said.
A fourth suspect was seen running south through the subdivision. A Matteson police K9 unit pulled up and started looking for the fourth suspect.
But while the officers were out of the police vehicle, the suspect got in and stole it, police said.
The suspect drove off in the Matteson police car on Northbound Interstate 57. Matteson police tracked the GPS on the squad car, which indicated that it had exited at 147th Street and became disabled at 147th and Dixie Highway in Harvey.
The driver bailed and had not been found as of Wednesday night.