A little trickery and a lot of luck led to arrests and the recovery of some $300,000 in stolen tires and wheels from the backyard of a Chicago home.
And police said they believe the find was just part of a much larger theft ring operating in the region.
The entire case started when Arlington Heights police were called on the theft of some 60 tire/wheel assemblies off of cars in the lot of Arlington Heights Nissan. The theft happened sometime between Oct. 29 and Nov. 5, 2012, reports said. Similar thefts also were being reported by other area car dealers.
Most of the tires were spare tires on pickup trucks and SUVs where the spare tire is stored underneath the vehicle, and were taken after the dealerships were closed.
Arlington Heights police took a chance and placed a GPS tracking device inside a spare tire on a vehicle at a dealership in hopes it would get stolen and lead to the thieves. That’s exactly what happened on the night of Jan. 24, but the police were shocked when they arrived at the Chicago home where the backyard was filled with tires and wheels.
Authorities gathered up all of the stolen property and moved it to a warehouse where police worked to organize the property for processing and return to the car dealers. In all, more than 1,110 tires and 200 wheels were recovered, but police don’t know how many had already been sold by the thieves.
Thus far, two men have been charged, but police are still investigating. Police are convinced that based on the volume of items stolen, more people had to be involved.
