Two motorcycles were reported stolen from the same block on the same night in Lakeview East last week, with the victims tracking the bikes down.
“It’s pretty bad especially, like I know it’s becoming a common thing,” said the victim who didn’t want to be identified.
The victim told NBC Chicago he discovered his Honda Navi missing last Wednesday morning along with his neighbor’s bike. Both filed a police report and had parked their bikes along Hudson Avenue near Belmont Avenue.
“It took me a second to realize what was going on, looked at my phone as I have a tracker for it and noticed it was on the south side,” he said.
An Apple AirTag left on the bike shows the location was pinging to a home in the Burnside neighborhood. The 34-year-old victim went looking for it.
“I just had to go over there at least try to see for myself,” he said.
He staked out the location for a couple of hours while waiting for police to arrive on scene.
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“I did have the intention of knocking on the door just out of frustration and anger,” he said. “But in this time and age and in this city—you can’t do that."
He said officers ended up doing a door knock on three separate occasions, but no one came to the door.
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“I was informed that it’s possible they can get a search warrant if there’s an exact location with the GPS,” he explained. “But I had a friend who spoke with a detective, unless it’s a life-threatening situation that they can not even-- if they do have the location.”
The victim and his neighbor are livid knowing the crooks are getting away with the crime.
“It’s very frustrating knowing where it's at and not being able to do anything about it,” said another victim.
He's urging other motorcycle owners to take precaution.
"I had like a lock on the handle bar which was ineffective," he said. "Lock it to something like a cinder block, a fence, put it in a garage-- don’t leave them on the street."
Chicago police are advising people not to take matters into their own hands and said these two cases remain under investigation.
NBC Chicago found vehicle thefts in the city are on the rise. More than 18,000 thefts reported so far this year compared to 8,900 in 2022. The victim in this most recent case doesn’t have much faith his case will be solved.
“I wish we could do more about the situations that are going on,” he said. “This is a smaller one compared to most but I feel speaks volume—if this can’t be addressed then how can anyone feel safe about larger issues?”
