Story posted Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Pop Go The Vending Machines
Change Stolen From Numerous Pop Machines Inside Two Local Hotels
Pop machines of Rosemont beware. Coin-operated vending machines were drilled into and the change emptied at two Rosemont hotels last week.
Machines on the fourth, sixth, eighth, 10th, and 12th floors of the Westin Hotel, 6100 River Rd., were discovered broken into just before 6 a.m. Monday, Feb. 22, according to police reports. A hole was drilled into the metal locking mechanism on the front of each machine.
A few days later, at 3:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 25, more machines were discovered broken into at the Marriott Hotel, 6155 River Rd. Machines on the seventh, ninth, and 11th floors were found with holes drilled into the locking mechanisms, similar to the alleged thefts at the Westin.
In both cases there were no witnesses and no video surveillance of the machines, police said.
Rosemont police have not seen these types of thefts in some time, according to spokesman Sgt. Keith Kania.
"They're not a common thing," he said.
Kania said such thefts typically spring up every few years until someone is caught, and then the thefts stop again. He said he didn't know if the alleged thefts at the Westin and Marriott were related because there were no witnesses and said any further information would just be speculation.
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