Several gaming machines were burglarized at Las Palmas Mexican Restaurant, 26228 Route 83 in unincorporated Mundelein (left), on October 6 and two masked suspects tried breaking into Thee Baby Vegas, a bar with video gaming machines at 2001 North Milwaukee Avenue in Riverwoods (right), early Friday before an alarm scared them off. | Photo – Left: Google Street View; Photo – Right: Thee Baby Vegas / Instagram
Burglars broke into a restaurant near Mundelein and stole from video gaming machines before masked suspects days later tried breaking into a Riverwoods bar amid a string of commercial burglaries across Lake County.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office responded around 3 a.m. on October 6 to Las Palmas Mexican Restaurant, 26228 Route 83 in unincorporated Mundelein, for a burglar alarm.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office Chief Christopher Covelli said deputies were at the scene investigating when they received a report from the Mundelein Police Department.
Mundelein police officers reported they had seen a white sedan fleeing the area at a high rate of speed on Route 60 just before the sheriff’s office received the alarm.
Deputies confirmed that someone had forced entry into the business and that several gaming machines inside the restaurant had been burglarized, Covelli said.
The owner was unable to access the restaurant’s camera footage when the initial report was taken so it was not immediately known how many suspects were involved, what they looked like or what was taken, Covelli said.
“The MO matches the crew from the Chicago-area that has been responsible for a number of these around the Chicagoland area,” Covelli said.
Covelli said sheriff’s detectives continue working with Chicagoland-area detectives to further the investigation and hold the offenders accountable.
The Riverwoods Police Department responded around 4:17 a.m. Friday to Thee Baby Vegas, 2001 North Milwaukee Avenue in Riverwoods, for a burglar alarm.
Officers found that suspects had tried to get inside the business by breaking the front door but were unsuccessful, Riverwoods Police Chief Bruce Dayno said.
Thee Baby Vegas has a full bar and video gaming machines, according to the business’s social media.
Riverwoods Police Department Detective David Martinovich said two suspects dressed in all black and wearing masks and gloves tried to break into the business but the alarm activated and scared them off.
No surveillance video is available for release yet because the investigation is ongoing, Martinovich said.
Martinovich said the department is working with other agencies to determine whether any other towns had similar crimes the same night, possibly involving the same suspects.
A group of a dozen suspects forced entry to Fatmans, 36309 Skokie Highway in unincorporated Gurnee, and burglarized the restaurant, causing just under $150,000 in damage on August 14. | Photo Submitted to Lake and McHenry County Scanner
Martinovich said he has not found any in Lake County so far and is still looking into other counties.
The Mundelein-area burglary and the Riverwoods attempted burglary follow a series of commercial burglaries by masked and gloved suspects across Lake County since mid-August.
The sheriff’s office responded shortly after 4 a.m. on August 14 to a burglar alarm at Fatmans, 36309 Skokie Highway in unincorporated Gurnee, where Covelli said more than 10 offenders forced entry through the front glass door and broke into several gaming machines and an ATM.
Deputies responded a short time later to a burglary in progress at Gas N Wash, 14010 West Rockland Road in Green Oaks, where surveillance video again showed more than 10 offenders breaking into gaming machines with hammers and sledgehammers.
Christian Khayat, an owning partner of Khayat Enterprises, which operates Fatmans, said the damage to his restaurant was just under $150,000, not including the cash stolen, and that investigators had linked the crew to approximately 130 burglaries.
“We believe this group is suspected of being involved in dozens of gaming machine burglaries throughout the Chicagoland area,” Covelli said in August.
Five masked and gloved offenders used sledgehammers and crowbars to break into gaming machines and a cash register drawer at the same Gas N Wash around 3:35 a.m. on September 9 while a sixth suspect waited outside in a black SUV, Covelli said.
A witness said the suspects jumped over the counter, threatened the clerk and threw a glass bottle at him as they began removing the cash register.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office investigates an armed robbery involving five masked suspects who stole cash from video gaming machines and a cash register at Gas N Wash, 14010 West Rockland Road in Green Oaks, while employees were present on September 9. | Photo: Craig / Captured News
The Chicago Police Department later recovered proceeds from the robbery on the South Side of Chicago, Covelli said.
Suspects targeting gaming machines burglarized The Fogcutter, 36021 Route 45 in unincorporated Lake Villa, around 2:54 a.m. on September 15 and fled in a black Infiniti Q50 with no license plates, Covelli said.
A Lake County sheriff’s sergeant watching a bar and lounge with gaming machines in unincorporated Deerfield saw the Infiniti pull into its parking lot and the car sped off as the sergeant approached.
The Infiniti reached speeds well over 100 mph on Milwaukee Avenue and Lake Cook Road before getting onto Interstate 294 toward Chicago and was traveling so fast that the sergeant and a Riverwoods Police Department officer lost sight of it, Covelli said.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office investigates a burglary involving suspects who stole cash from gaming machines at The Fogcutter, 36021 Route 45 in unincorporated Lake Villa, on September 15. | Photo: Joe Shuman/J. Shuman Photography (2026)
Seven masked and gloved suspects armed with sledgehammers smashed several video gaming machines at Ricky Rockets Fuel Center, 700 East Lake Cook Road in Buffalo Grove, around 4:06 a.m. on September 18 and took the money box from one of them, according to a Buffalo Grove Police Department report.
Buffalo Grove Police Department Sgt. Meghan Hansen said the suspects are believed to be the same crew responsible for a large number of video gaming burglaries and robberies in the Chicagoland area.
Sheriff’s detectives and detectives from other agencies across the Chicagoland region have formed a task force to investigate the gaming machine burglaries and share intelligence, Covelli said.
Masked and gloved suspects dressed in all black forced their way into Juan’s Chuck Wagon, 1522 Grand Avenue in Waukegan, around 12:45 a.m. on September 21 but left without any cash, the owner said.
At least six businesses in and near Lake Bluff were targeted by burglars around 3 a.m. on September 27.
Covelli said the burglars broke the glass doors of businesses in the Knollwood area of unincorporated Lake Bluff with a landscaping brick to get inside and then targeted the cash registers.
Shattered glass lies outside a front door at Epic Burger, 955 Rockland Road in Lake Bluff (left), and across the floor inside Forest Greens Juice Bar, 123 Waukegan Road in Lake Bluff (right), after a burglary crew targeted at least six businesses in the Lake Bluff area on September 27. | Photos: Shields Township
A burglary was also attempted at a business in the 700 block of Rockland Road but the burglars were unable to get inside, Covelli said.
Surveillance video from Bratski’s, 715 Rockland Road, showed a white four-door sedan pulling in behind the building just after 3 a.m. and taking off once the alarm lights activated.
Covelli said the vehicle involved in the burglaries was a white four-door sedan.
“The MO matches other burglaries that occurred in incorporated Lake Bluff and elsewhere in the county,” Covelli said.
Two masked suspects dressed in all black broke into Los Compadres de Waukegan, 1614 Washington Street in Waukegan, around 4:15 a.m. that same morning and stole a cash drawer before fleeing in a white sedan, surveillance video showed.
Surveillance video captures two masked suspects breaking into Los Compadres de Waukegan, 1614 Washington Street in Waukegan, and stealing a cash drawer before fleeing in a white getaway sedan on September 27. | Photo: Screengrab
Tony’s Bakery, 2010 Washington Street, was also reportedly burglarized and Master Sushi and Drive Thru, 2510 Grand Avenue, was burglarized the same morning.
Maevery Public House, 20 East Scranton Avenue in Lake Bluff, and Scooter’s Hot Dogs, 721 Rockland Road in Lake Bluff, were also reportedly burglarized the week before.
No arrests have been announced in the Las Palmas burglary or the Riverwoods attempted burglary.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Lake County Sheriff’s Office at 847-549-5200 or the Riverwoods Police Department at 847-945-1820.
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