Police are warning residents across McHenry County about an increase in vehicle burglaries and vehicle thefts in the county over the past few days.
The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office issued a community alert Tuesday saying there has been an influx in car burglaries and car thefts in the county over the past few days.
The targeted areas include densely populated neighborhoods in McHenry County, the sheriff’s office said.
The majority of cars have been unlocked and some even have had the keys left in the car.
The sheriff’s office said they recommend owners lock their cars, do not leave the keys or valuables inside and turn on their exterior home lights every night.
The Woodstock Police Department said on Monday that they have also been made aware of a “troubling rise” in vehicle break-ins and offered tips for vehicle owners.
On Monday, the Cary Police Department said numerous suspects burglarized at least 10 vehicles, stealing a car and guns in the process, in Cary over the weekend.
Cary Deputy Police Chief Scott Naydenoff said that approximately 10 vehicle burglaries and one car theft occurred in Cary in the early morning hours on Sunday.
The incidents occurred in the area encompassed by First Street on the east to Silver Lake Road on the west, and Three Oaks Road on the north and Park Avenue on the south.
Officers from the Cary Police Department were first alerted to the incidents occurring around 5:30 a.m. when a resident in the 300 block of Oriole Trail called 911.
The resident reported that a subject tried to open the doors to their vehicle parked in the driveway at approximately 4:48 a.m., Naydenoff said.
The incident was captured by the resident’s home security camera.
Naydenoff said officers were alerted over the next few hours to multiple additional occurrences of items stolen from vehicles in the same general area.
Items stolen included purses, money, debit and credit cards and two handguns.
Most of the vehicles targeted were left unlocked but an offender using a flashlight to see into a vehicle smashed the car’s windows upon seeing an item of value, Naydenoff said.
A nearby police agency was called later in the morning to a report of an abandoned vehicle on the side of the roadway in their jurisdiction.
Naydenoff said the vehicle was traced back to a resident of Cary, who was unaware their vehicle had been stolen that morning.
The vehicle was stolen during the same general time frame of the burglary incidents and was believed to have been used to commit the burglaries before it was abandoned by the offenders.
Officers later learned the offenders appeared to be traveling in three different vehicles and one of those vehicles was also stolen out of a neighboring jurisdiction. The group of suspects consisted of at least five individuals, Naydenoff said.
The suspects who entered or attempted to enter the vehicles appear to be young adult or juvenile black males, Naydenoff said. Several suspects had their faces covered but one suspect did not have his face covered.
A victim’s stolen debit card was attempted to be used at a gas station on Fullerton Avenue in Chicago later the same morning.
No one has been taken into custody and the incidents remain under investigation by the Cary Police Department.