Thieves steal $20,000 worth of sports memorabilia from west suburban Chicago store
Thieves turned to a high-tech device to steal $25,000 worth of sports cards and memorabilia from a business in west suburban Medinah, Illinois.
They broke into the store seamlessly — leaving the owner with little evidence to show police.
Off the tracks of the Medinah Metra stop is Off the Rails Relics & Sports Cards, at 78-N-02 Medinah Rd. Alex Tuider has put his life into the business over the last two years.
“It’s my livelihood,” he said.
Off the Rails has become a place for the community. Tuider hosts trade nights for anyone interested in the sports card hobby.
But last week, Off the Rails went off the map.
Tuider walked into his business this past Friday morning to find thieves had used a crowbar to break down the front door and steal $25,000 worth of cards.
“The reason why this is a gut punch, though, is like, I do no online sales,” said Tuider. “Everything is through the shop.”
Tuider said there are no pictures or video of the thieves because they used a jammer to turn off the security camera and Wi-Fi in the store — a situation any business or homeowner could be in.
“I know there’s capabilities out there that can disrupt the system and temporarily shut down the system,” said Rich Guidice of Blue Star Security.
Guidice, the former executive director of the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications, said the jammer devices are a new way of doing business for thieves.
How they work is they interfere and block Wi-Fi signals, which may have disabled the security cameras in Tuider’s case — since his security app did not pick up the footage.
The jammers cost hundreds of dollars, and are illegal under the Federal Communications Commission.
“The backup to that would be to get a hard line installed as well,” said Guidice, “so if your Wi-Fi system goes down, then you have it backed up by hard line.”
Tuider cleaned out and closed up his shop this this past weekend, since he said the thieves could just break in again.
“These past two years, I’ve been busting my butt to achieve this dream — truly just for someone to come along and put me in this nightmare,” he said.
But Tuider said he plans to open up another brick-and-mortar store somewhere else — because he does not want be out of the game yet.
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