Crime Spree In Joliet: Burglar Hits Pizzeria, Gas Station, Parking Deck: Police

JOLIET, IL — A Chicago man burglarized a pizzeria, a gas station and a vehicle all while traveling in a stolen car during an overnight crime spree in Joliet, police said Wednesday.

Alejandro Lopez, 22, is charged with three counts each of burglary and property damage, as well as possession of a stolen vehicle, according to police.

The morning of Nov. 13, Joliet police received reports of three burglaries, law enforcement said.

The first came at 4:27 a.m., when officers responded to the BP gas station in the 1400 block of Plainfield Road, police said. An employee who arrived to open the store had interrupted a burglary in which four males damaged the front door to gain entry and stole two cash registers containing over $1,000 total, according to police.

At 8:44 a.m., officers went to Niko’s Pizzeria on Ohio Street, where the front window of the business had been shattered and a computer and two cash registers containing $1,000 total were stolen, police said.

At 9:05 a.m., officers went to the Scott Street parking deck on East Clinton Street and learned that earlier that morning a group had damaged the rear driver’s side window of a locked BMW to steal a backpack and loose change, and had damaged the stop arms to enter and exit the facility, according to police.

Law enforcement believe the thieves burglarized the vehicle, then the pizzeria and lastly the gas station before fleeing Joliet, police said.

In all three burglaries, the thieves were traveling in an Infiniti Q50, which was stolen from a dealership in Clarendon Hills and recovered in a garage in the 2600 block of 22nd Place in Chicago, according to police.

Lopez was taken into custody Nov. 13 by Prospect Heights police on unrelated burglary charges, and Joliet police obtained an arrest warrant for him Dec. 10 and served it at Cook County jail, where he is incarcerated on other charges, law enforcement said.