A group of car thieves who led deputies on a high speed chase Sunday may have tried to steal cars from a dealership in Kenosha first.
Deputies are looking into whether the two cases are connected after learning that the Nissan dealership in Kenosha was also broken into Sunday night, but no cars were taken.
According to Kenosha Sheriff David Beth, his deputies did a routine check of all the dealerships in Kenosha after a high speed chase on I-94 Sunday night.
Five stolen cars traveling more than 100 mph raced through Kenosha and Racine Counties, leading Racine deputies on a brief pursuit.
During the routine check of dealerships, Kenosha deputies ended up finding four cars inside the service department at the Bob Rohrman dealership with the engines running.
Deputies did not find any suspects inside.
"They found a brick that had been thrown threw one of the service doors [to] gain entry into the building," Beth said.
Once inside, Beth said the suspects couldn't get the bay doors open so they just left the vehicles running. They allegedly tried to ram the door without success.
From there, Beth says he suspects they went to the Gregory Infiniti dealership in Libertyville, Illinois.
Gregory Mauro is the owner of that dealership and said thieves broke into his service department Sunday night, stealing five luxury cars.
The cars were loan vehicles for customers needing repairs, and did not belong to any customers.
One of the cars ended up crashing following the pursuit with Racine deputies and two young suspects escaped on foot.
Mauro says police recovered a second stolen vehicle after an officer found it abandoned in Milwaukee.
Authorities didn't find any evidence in the car, but the thieves tried to remove the VIN sticker. The car had stolen Wisconsin plates and minor damage.
Mauro says police told him two other stolen vehicles were spotted in Milwaukee but police were unable to stop them.
"I hope they apprehend this gang, I mean it's amazing that they've done and I don't know if it's one in the same or if it's several gangs but they need to put a stop to this," Mauro said.
Authorities in Kenosha and in Libertyville are reviewing surveillance video from both incidents.
Beth also said they collected evidence from the Kenosha dealership.
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