Riverside police investigate multiple car burglaries

RIVERSIDE - Riverside police are investigating a series of car burglaries that took place in the early morning hours March 4.

A police officer on patrol in the 700 block of Arlington Road at 1:40 a.m. spotted a silver SUV matching the description of a vehicle used by burglary suspects from other suburban communities.

When the officer’s headlights hit the vehicle parked on Arlington Road, it immediately fled southbound on Harlem Avenue toward Interstate 55 at over 80 miles per hour, according to a Riverside Police news release.

Police did not pursue the vehicle due to safety concerns. However, they obtained a license plate number. This temporary registration was from Indiana, but the car was reported stolen out of South Holland, the release stated.

La Grange police had recovered a stolen registration card at a burglary scene in that community, which registered to the vehicle that fled Riverside burglary locations.

When police returned to the scene on Arlington Road, they discovered three cars had been broken into on the 700 block of Arlington Road and the 700 block of Selbourne Road. None of the cars was locked. Property taken included laptops, jewelry and cash.

Riverside detectives are walking the scene looking for any video that may assist in the overall investigation.

Several hours later, police were notified that the laptop stolen from a car on Selborne Road had been recovered in a parkway in Hinsdale.

“Riverside is not alone in these burglary sprees,” Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel said. “Many west suburban communities are being hit by car burglars on a nightly basis. The offenders typically come to the community in a stolen car, generally only commit burglaries on cars that are left unlocked, and sometimes steal other cars because residents will leave their key fobs in the vehicle. These offenders then flee at high rates of speed, sometimes over 100 miles per hour because they are well aware that police will not chase most individuals for property crimes.”