Burglars strike Northwest Side Chicago wholesale hardware store over and over again
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago Police have connected three people to more than 30 burglaries since the start of the year—with power tools appearing to be the target in each incident.
B.E. Atlas Company, at 4300 N. Kilpatrick Ave. in the Northwest Side's Mayfair neighborhood, has been burglarized so many times that the staff say they now have an archive of surveillance video, and have identified a piece of clothing that may tie one of the suspects to the crimes.
"In March, they came day after day," said Stephen Byer, an administrator at B.E. Atlas.
Since March, Byer has tried to keep up with a burglary ring that continues to target the wholesale hardware store.
"It's demoralizing, you know, that it keeps happening," Byer said.
Once inside, the burglars head straight for the power tools—casually loading up shopping carts of expensive Milwaukee Tool products.
They struck at B.E. Atlas four times in March, and they were back twice this week.
"We've been here over 60 years, and we really haven't had anything like this happen until just this past year," Byer said.
On Mother's Day this past Sunday, surveillance video shows one man climbing the shelves for merchandise. He is wearing distinctive Adidas track pants.
Overnight Monday into Tuesday, the burglars came back again. But they were unable to get in despite violently kicking the door—the footprints were still fresh hours afterward.
"They tried very, very hard," said Byer.
In March, CBS 2 spoke to a plumbing and heating company that has also been hit over and over. Fettes, Love & Sieben Plumbing & Heating Contractor, at 4321-4325 N. Lincoln Ave., replaced its windows and garage doors and upgraded its security system – but the burglars kept coming anyway.
Police said three people are possibly linked to over 30 similar burglaries since the start of the year.
In March, Chicago Police released this surveillance video of one of the incidents---and one of the suspects was also wearing the same Adidas track pants seen in the video from B.E. Atlas.
Back at B.E. Atlas, concrete barriers, surveillance cameras and reinforced security measures are the new norm.
Every time a burglary happens, it's expensive for the businesses—between the loss of merchandise and repairs to the building.
"The value of the merchandise alone is tens of thousands of dollars," Byer said. "It's definitely frustrating. We just try our best to stay ahead of it."
So far, police have not made any arrests.
"We just hope that by sharing the story here, something positive can come out of it," Byer said.
