Thieves Steal 5 Luxury Cars In Libertyville, Lead Police On Chase In Wisconsin
CHICAGO (CBS) – The list of car dealerships hit by groups of thieves is growing.
The latest theft happened in far north suburban Libertyville.
CBS 2's Mai Martinez has the story from Gregory Infiniti where the thieves made off with five luxury vehicles.
The vehicles were stolen Sunday night around 11:20 p.m. and about 15 minutes later, the thieves were across state lines leading police in Wisconsin on a high-speed chase.
The chase ended when police used spike strips to puncture the tires of one vehicle after the driver refused to pull over and led officers in both Kenosha County and Racine County on a high-speed chase.
The stolen Infiniti crashed into another car and then landed in a ditch. Two suspects ran from the crash.
All five vehicles were stolen from Gregory Infiniti in Libertyville.
"Broke into the service department on the far north end, through the glass door," said Gregory Infiniti owner, Gregory Mauro. "And then they proceeded to go through the shop and steal all the service loaners that had keys in them."
The rock the thieves used to shatter the door now sits on a trashcan.
Libertyville police said the stolen luxury sedans and SUV's were worth more than $205,000.
"This is something that has been an epidemic in the entire metro Chicago, Northwest Indiana and Milwaukee area," Mauro said. "They think it's one big gang that's continually doing this."
Mauro said he knows of at least 10 dealerships that have been vandalized in similar ways.
Gregory Infiniti is checking its surveillance cameras to see if any video of the suspects was recorded.
In terms of the future…
"We were told before to remove the keys and that is something they were reminisced in doing last night out of the vehicles," Mauro said. "We will make sure in the future that the keys will be removed and also, that we were suggested to block the entrance and exits of the service doors too with a vehicle."
Mauro said he believes at least six suspects were involved in the heist. Police are still looking for all of them.
As for the stolen Infinitis, he said the one stopped Sunday night is a total loss. The other four have not been located.