3 men charged with vehicle thefts around Chicago's western suburbs
ELMHURST, Ill. (CBS) -- Three men have been charged with a string of vehicle theft crimes affecting several suburban communities – after police said they drove from Elmhurst to South Barrington in a stolen semi-truck tractor.
Kamil Spieczynski, Sebastian Nawrot, and Mateusz Wojtowicz were arrested by Elmhurst police detectives and are facing charges in DuPage County.
On the morning of Feb. 1, a business reported a flatbed trailer had been stolen from a fenced parking lot in the 500 block of North Michigan Street in Elmhurst, according to Elmhurst police.
Video surveillance showed a Ford pickup truck – which had been stolen just before that in Northlake – was used to drag off the flatbed trailer around 12:30 a.m. that morning, police said.
Detectives also learned a black Toyota Prius registered to Spieczynski was parked near the scene.
Police said Spieczynski and Wojtowicz had already been arrested by Illinois State Police and Algonquin police in December on charges of possessing stolen motor vehicles – and on pretrial release.
Investigators also learned Nawrot worked for the Northlake business from which the pickup truck had been stolen, and had access to the keys, police said.
Elmhurst and Bensenville police began surveillance of the Spieczynski's Prius early on the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 13, and saw all three men steal two Volvo semi-truck tractors from a lot in the 600 block of Route 83 in Bensenville, police said.
One of the trucks got stuck in the mud, and they abandoned it there, police said. But Nawrot drove off in the other 2022 Volvo semi-truck tractor with Spieczynski and Wojtowicz in the vehicle with him, police said.
Illinois State Police tried to stop the stolen truck tractor, but it kept going – only to be abandoned near Covered Bridge and Barrington roads in South Barrington, police said. Detectives also tried to stop the Toyota, but it fled too, police said.
Police did find Spieczynski in a nearby field, and he was arrested, police said. Nawrot and Wojtowicz escaped, but were captured on home and business surveillance video, police said.
On Wednesday of last week, Elmhurst police investigated a truck parking lot in Woodstock where Spieczynski had been renting space – and found two stolen vehicles. One was a 2020 Ford Transit van that was reported stolen in Bensenville on Jan. 27, the other a 2017 Maserati Levante sport-utility vehicle that was reported stolen in Chicago on Aug. 13 of last year.
Both vehicles were impounded, police said.
On Tuesday of this week around 1 p.m., Elmhurst police found Nawrot and Wojtowicz driving in a vehicle in Elmhurst, police said. Detectives arrested both when they parked the car at Park Avenue and York Street in Elmhurst, police said.
Spieczynski, 37, of Algonquin; Nawrot, 25, of Bensenville; and Wojtowicz, 23, of the Northwest Side of Chicago, were each charged with two felony counts of possession of a stolen motor vehicle valued at $25,000 or more. Spieczynski was also charged with one count of possession of burglary tools.
All three defendants were granted pretrial release after an initial court appearance.