North Side Thieves Targeting Kick Plates On Doors
CHICAGO (CBS) -- We've heard of thieves targeting manhole covers, cooper pipes and wiring, even aluminum benches to sell to scrap yards for quick cash.
But now there's a new hot item catching their eyes and, as CBS 2's Mai Martinez reports, there might be one on your front door.
For more than 100 years The Pattington on Irving Park Road has been catching the eyes of passersby. It's even listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
But recently, the upscale condo building has drawn some unwanted attention from thieves who stole four kick plates from the Pattington and two from a neighboring building.
"About two weeks ago, the day before Thanksgiving, we got a report from a homeowner who said they had heard a noise in the middle of the night and looked down and saw someone stealing the brass-plated kick plate here," property manager David Holton said Monday.
Taking off the kick plates would have been no easy task, as they had at least a dozen or more screws holding them on the doors, Holton said.
"There were a couple places where they had, obviously had used a crowbar," he said.
In total, four kick plates were stolen from the Pattington and two were stolen from a neighboring building on Bittersweet Place.
Police said the properties are just some of the latest to be hit on the North Side in the past few weeks.
"We've had probably over 20, something we're working on right now currently," Chicago Police Sgt. Ray Ernst said.
The thieves likely aren't getting much for their haul, considering the replacement kick plates at the Pattington were $35.99 brand new.
Metal experts said solid brass kick plates might fetch around $1.65 a pound at a scrap yard, but brass-plated ones like those stolen at the Pattington are only worth about 10 to 11 cents a pound.
North Side residents said it's a shame thieves would damage a historic building for that.
"I don't have words to describe it. I (am) just totally disgusted with the whole situation when I hear all these things happening," Jesse Permen said.
Sources told CBS 2 police had two people in custody Monday afternoon in connection with one of the incidents on the North Side. The investigation into the others was still underway.
