Naperville police warn of 20 recent burglaries from vehicles
A Florida-based gang that has been stealing purses from cars in Naperville since 2010 appears to be back, police said Tuesday.
Burglaries that match the style of the Felony Lane Gang were reported over the weekend from the northeast side of the city, Cmdr. Lou Cammiso said, while a separate string of burglaries that seems unrelated was reported on the southwest side.
All told, Cammiso said Naperville police are investigating more than 20 reports of burglaries from vehicles during the past few nights.
Police don't yet have any suspects, so they are reminding residents never to leave valuables unattended inside their cars and always to lock vehicle doors.
In crimes reported on the northeast side, Cammiso said burglars stole purses from cars and then committed fraud with checks or credit cards found inside. He said these burglaries appear to match the actions of the Florida-based gang, which targets places where women are likely to leave purses in their cars, including schools, parks and fitness centers, and then uses identification found inside to steal large sums of money.
On the southwest side, Cammiso said burglars took miscellaneous valuables and damaged cars by breaking windows or slashing tires.
"We don't believe these are related to the north side burglaries," he said.
The city's interactive public safety incident map showed information about 15 of the recent burglaries as of Tuesday afternoon.
The map, which was launched in November, does not display crimes in real time, but posts basic information about them once reports have been completed by officers and reviewed by supervisors. Internal reviews can take hours or days depending on the information involved and the type of investigation.
According to the map, burglaries from vehicles were reported April 28 and 29 and May 1 on Iroquois Avenue, Chippewa Drive, Benedetti Drive, Ogden Avenue, Wright Street, Loomis Street, Sleight Street and Willow Road toward the northeast portion of the city, and on Winners Cup Court, Conan Doyle Road, Landore Drive and Barnes Lane on the southwest side.