Man, 51, in custody after 4th Nuts on Clark break-in

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A 51-year-old man was taken into custody after police responded to a burglary alarm early Friday morning at Nuts on Clark in Chicago's Wrigleyville neighborhood.

This is the fourth time the popular shop has been broken into in the last three months.

In business for more than 35 years, Nuts on Clark has become a neighborhood institution. The store, located in the 3800-block of North Clark Street, specializes in popcorn, candy and nuts.

The owners are frustrated. They said they've been doing everything they can to keep the break-ins from happening. They hope Friday's arrest puts an end to it.

"Every time this happens you feel violated. We want it over. I think it's over now," said Robert Kenney, a co-owner.

"They really did a great job. They were in the area waiting," another co-owner, Carla Kenney Phillips, said of responding officers.

The Kenney family said in March, after the first break-in , they wired the store like a bank. But it didn't stop burglars from getting into the air conditioning shaft surrounded by iron baskets or the ventilation system.

"It's crazy. I guess I wonder why someone would be so desperate," said Jessica Buha, a neighbor.

In each incident, the cash registers were taken. Police said around 2:30 a.m. Friday, two of them were yanked out of the store and found a block away.

Police said the suspect resembles the man seen on an in-house surveillance recording.

"It is a little disturbing. But overall, we do feel pretty safe in the neighborhood," said Ryan O'Malley, who lives nearby.

"It's a historic Chicago institution. What are you going to do that to this part of the city for? I mean come on," said Tim Carr, another neighbor.

It's unclear if the man in custody is the same man responsible for all four burglaries. But police are looking over video from the past two months.

Last week, there was a rash of store break-ins in the city's Lincoln Park neighborhood. Police said people smashed through at least four businesses, taking cash registers and dropping them "all over the neighborhood."

It's unclear if all of the Lincoln Park break-ins are related to the Nuts on Clark burglaries. Investigators said they are looking into all possibilities.