Police investigating Portage Park car dealership break-in

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Police are investigating after another break-in at a Chicago area car dealership Tuesday. The break-in is at least the seventh at a Chicago area car dealership this year.

A burglar alarm alerted police of a break-in at the Marino Chrysler Jeep Dodge in the 5200-block of West Irving Park Road in the Portage Park neighborhood at about 1:39 a.m., Chicago police said.

The shattered garage door window gave a masked man a big enough opening to let four others in, but once they were inside, they couldn't find the keys to the cars they wanted to steal and took off before police could get there.

Evidence technicians carefully dusted for finger prints and detectives reviewed surveillance video Tuesday morning.

The stretch of Irving Park is dealers row. Back in December, Portage Park experienced a rash of similar dealership break-ins. One dealership owner who didn't want to be identified said some of his cars were used in drive by shootings and drug deals. One juvenile was caught and police suspect that teenagers working in groups of three and six were responsible.

This is the fourth week in a row thieves have pulled off this type of crime at car dealerships across Chicagoland.

On Sunday night, five SUV's were stolen from a dealership in Libertyville. One of the cars led police on a high speed chase and crash into Racine County, Wisconsin.

That same night, the Kenosha County Sheriff's Office said that deputies found four vehicles at a Kenosha Nissan Dealership with their engines running, but did not find any suspects. Police said the suspects entered the dealership after breaking the door and tried stealing cars parked in the service area. They tried unsuccessfully to ram the overhead garage door, police said.

There have also been thefts on Goose Island, in Evanston and in Clarendon Hills, but no one has been caught.

Police are investigating all possible links from the Portage Park break-in to the other crimes.