April 30--Chicago police released surveillance photos Wednesday of a man who has been breaking into cars and stealing mail from condominium buildings in the Lakeview and Lincoln Park neighborhoods since early this year.
The man has been getting into buildings in the Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Park West and Lake View East neighborhoods since at least early February, according to police. He has used a pry tool to get in through lobby doors, according to an alert issued Wednesday by Area North detectives that included two surveillance videos.
Once the man has gotten into a building or its parking garage, he's taken items such as mail or bicycles, or broken into cars, according to police. He's also been seen with a shopping cart during the break-ins, police said.
In one of the incidents, sometime between about 12:01 a.m. and 5 a.m. on March 17 in the 600 block of West Wrightwood Avenue, the man stole items from 15 people, police said.
The thief is described as a heavyset black man with a bald head and a mustache. He's been seen wearing a hooded sweatshirt and jeans and appears to have some sort of tote bag over his shoulder in one of the surveillance photos.
In addition to the West Wrightwood break-in, the burglaries and thefts took place:
-- Feb. 7, in the 500 block of West Briar Place about 9 p.m.;
-- Feb. 23, in the same building on Briar Place about 4:10 a.m.;
-- March 31, in the 1200 block of West Diversey Parkway about 11 p.m.;
-- April 1, in the 2700 block of North Racine Avenue between about 3 a.m. and 3:15 a.m.;
-- And between about 11 p.m. April 19 and about 2 a.m. April 20 in the 900 block of West Belmont Avenue.
Anyone with information about the thefts or burglaries is asked to call Detective Robert Ross at 312-744-8263.
