People should remain vigilant, the Bloomington Police Department [BPD] warns, after the homes of two area Asian business owners were burglarized in the past three weeks. This, according to a media release.
In both instances, BPD spokesperson Bryce Janssen tells WGLT the perpetrators entered the personal residences of Asian business owners in Bloomington-Normal while they were unoccupied and took a specific set of items. Due to an ongoing investigation, Janssen said he could not divulge the items, but they are the same across houses.
And Janssen reports these burglaries are not isolated to Bloomington-Normal.
“This is something that is happening from the northern edge of the state all the way down to the southern edge of the state,” he said. “Asian business owners are being targeted.”
BPD has an individual investigation and is collaborating with other agencies to see if there is any link between these similar crimes, Janssen added.
“We’re trying to figure out, is this a traveling group? Or is this a local group type of thing?” he said.
Similar crimes are also happening across the country, ABC News reports.
Similar to burglaries in 2023
At the same time, Janssen said the two incidents in Bloomington and the others statewide resemble a series of burglaries that took place between November 2023 and March 2024, also targeting Asian business owners, also across Illinois. Four of those cases were in Bloomington.
“What would happen is, we would, you know, receive a call after the fact, saying, ‘We left at our normal time, came back home and found that our home had been burglarized,’” he said.
Janssen said police concluded the victims were being surveilled and the burglars knew they wouldn’t be home.
Several of the alleged perpetrators in the 2023 burglaries have been caught, according to Janssen, and police noticed a trend of decreased burglaries statewide as individual police departments started making arrests.
Arrests are still being made, though. Janssen said one man was arrested as recently as two months ago in Ohio and he’d been attempting to commit another burglary there.
Police found all of the burglaries in 2023 were believed to be committed by “South American theft groups,” said Janssen.
Despite the similarities — which go down to the types of items stolen — Janssen said there’s no evidence yet pointing to the 2024 and 2023 burglaries being linked.
Remain vigilant
As part of its crime prevention tips, BPD said people should look out for potential followers or unknown vehicles and ensure alarm systems are armed. They also said to alert neighbors when you're going on vacation, avoid posting those plans on social media and take measures to make your home look occupied.
Police also ask that anyone with information about the burglaries contact Detective Jake Law at 309-434-2527 or jlaw@cityblm.org. Anonymous tips can also be sent by texting BPDTIPS to 847411 followed by the information.