Thefts leave Geneva home-delivery milk customers dry

Geneva police may be looking for a thief with a milk mustache after 11 households reported having their Oberweis milk deliveries stolen Friday.

The thefts happened between 1 and 7 a.m. on Jan. 4. In five of the thefts, 22 half-gallon glass bottles of milk, a bottle of water and a half-gallon bottle of orange juice were stolen, as was a crate used for returning empty bottles. Three other bottles of milk were broken in the thefts.

The amount and type of products for the six other thefts was not available from Geneva police as of Wednesday afternoon.

“It is an extremely unusual circumstance. ... I am assuming it is a one-time strange occurrence,” said Joe Oberweis, chief executive officer of the dairy.

Oberweis said he could not recall similar thefts.

Beside milk, Oberweis Dairy delivers juices, ice cream, meat, eggs, butter and other food.

Home-delivery customers pay $3.49 per half-gallon for white milk, plus a deposit per bottle and a $2.99 delivery fee.

All the thefts were on the west side of town, many in the Eagle Brook subdivision, on the 700 and 1500 blocks of South Street; the 900 block of Harbor Town Court; the 1200 block of Keim Court; the 1400 block of Keim Circle; the 1700 block of Loran Drive; the 1400 block of Fairway Court; the 1600 block of Kummer Court; the 1400 and 1800 blocks of Fargo Boulevard; and the 800 block of Brigham Way.

Oberweis did not charge for the stolen products, coolers and crates, and re-delivered the products later that day.

In the fall, Oberweis changed delivery start times for some of its routes, including ones in Batavia and Geneva. Instead of starting to deliver products at 7 a.m., now products are dropped off starting at 1 a.m. Joe Oberweis said about half of all its routes are delivered overnight, and that historically, milkmen typically delivered overnight.

Products are left in unlocked plastic coolers.