Police: 4 Chicago Teens Caught Burglarizing Jaguar Dealership
CHICAGO (CBS) -- CHICAGO (CBS) – Under other circumstances, it would be great – cars flying off showroom floors in Chicagoland.
The trouble is, they are not being sold, they are being stolen – more than 100 in the last six months. As CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez reports, car dealerships are trying to put the brakes on car thefts.
It has been happening for months – thieves smashing windows, scrambling for cars and driving them off up to five at a time, in minutes.
Thieves smashed windows at two of his Imperial jaguar dealerships on Saturday in Wilmette and Lake Bluff.
Luckily, the thieves were unsuccessful and left empty handed.
"They got nothing so we won."
Jordan Aron said four cars have been stolen from his dealerships in recent months, but those were during business hours. Thieves simply jumped into cars with push button starters with keys left inside and took off.
But after thefts at dealers from Evanston to Tinley Park, after hours, Aron started blocking doors and locking up those keys at night.
That did not stop the thieves though.
"They did [break in anyways]. And its kind of amazing because they can see that the cars are blocking the door so if they find a car with keys in it, which they don't, they couldn't drive it out anyway," Aron said.
Wilmette police said they arrested four juveniles from Chicago caught fleeing the dealership. Three of them are charged with attempted burglary and criminal trespass to land. They believe the crew is responsible for other auto thefts and said together, they have a total of 72 prior juvenile arrests.
Aron said police did a great job on Saturday, but what now?
"My impression from the police department is it will continue because we are not getting help from the court system to stop it," Aron said.
In fact, many dealers think it will escalate, that the juveniles will get only a slap on the wrist. But when you have four young suspects with 72 arrests, it certainly sounds that way. The dealers feel under siege.