Investigators Blame Same Burglars for 3 Smoke Shop Break-ins

Investigators said they believe the same thieves are to blame for all three June break-ins to local smoke shops.

The burglars are also making their way around to other suburbs, doing the same thing, according to Tinley Park Police Cmdr. Pat McCain. Locally, thieves broke into a third cigarette shop in June 21, stealing cartons before taking off in a dark-colored SUV.  were dispatched to the store, Express Tobacco, 8021 W. 183rd St., at 3:26 a.m. that morning, according to the police report. They found the storefront's glass shattered and no one inside, as was the case in the first two June break-ins to other shops.

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Officers reviewed surveillance footage from all three incidents. The latest shows an early 2000s model Dodge Durango with a luggage rack on top and silver running boards on the bottom pulling in front of the business at 3:19 a.m. A passenger in the vehicle is shown retrieving a plastic bin from the back of the vehicle, police said. 

The driver is on video removing cigarette cartons from the bin and retrieving a sledgehammer, which he uses to shatter the front window of the business. The offenders were only inside for three minutes, police said, and they stole several cartons of cigarettes—mostly Newports—before leaving. 

"Yes, we believe these are linked together," McCain said. "It's the same M.O. in each case, down to the time of the break-ins. They're occurring in other suburbs, also in the middle of the night."

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Investigators said the passenger in the vehicle was a light-skinned black man who was wearing black pants, black boots and possibly a light colored dress shirt. He had tattoos on his left arm. The driver was a black man wearing a blue shirt, blue pants and light colored baseball cap. He had yellow gloves on and had facial hair, the report said. 

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