At least seven electric scooters have been stolen across Chicago's North Side over the past two months, with police saying the thief carves out the ignition on each scooter to bypass the key-start function. The thefts have hit Lincoln Square, Roscoe Village, Uptown and Lake View East, and the two most recent incidents happened in Lincoln Square.
According to a police alert cited by NBC Chicago, the suspect is described as a man in his 50s who wears a white shirt, blue shorts, and a fanny pack. Police say he has stolen electric scooters from various parts of the city, and they're urging anyone with information to call 312-744-8263.
Mapping the Thefts Across Four Neighborhoods
The stolen scooters were taken from a wide swath of the North Side. In Lincoln Square, thefts occurred at the 4600 block of North Western and the 4700 block of North Western. Roscoe Village saw a scooter disappear from the 1900 block of West Roscoe, while Uptown lost one from the 4100 block of North Sheridan.
Lake View East accounted for several of the incidents, with thefts reported at the 700 block of West Brompton, the 600 block of West Briar Place, and the 3500 block of North Lake Shore Drive. The spread of locations suggests the suspect has been moving methodically through the area rather than sticking to one block.
A Familiar Pattern on Chicago's North Side
This isn't the first time North Side residents have dealt with a scooter theft wave. In April 2023, the Chicago Police Department issued a similar community alert after six motorized scooters were stolen within four days across Lincoln Park, Near North and the Gold Coast, according to CWB Chicago. That outlet has also reported that stolen scooters valued between $500 and $1,400 are often resold on the city's West Side or through online marketplaces for a fraction of their retail value, a pattern investigators have traced through past cases.
The North Side has an even longer history with this kind of crime. Back in May 2019, Chicago police issued a comparable alert after at least four parked motor scooters were stolen within five days in Bucktown and Noble Square, per Patch. And just last year, serial thief Randall Brown — a 32-time convicted felon — was sentenced to six years in prison for stealing scooters in Lincoln Park and Streeterville by manipulating ignition switches and steering columns, CWB Chicago reported at the time.
Scooter Crime Meets a Shifting Regulatory Landscape
The theft spree lands as Illinois moves to formalize statewide rules for micromobility devices. Governor JB Pritzker signed Senate Bill 3484 into law this week, establishing statewide regulations for electric bikes and scooters — including age restrictions, speed limits and operating locations — that take effect January 1, 2027, according to Capitol News Illinois. The law follows Illinois Public Act 103-0899, enacted in 2024, which bars low-speed electric scooters statewide unless a local municipality specifically authorizes them by ordinance.
In Chicago, city transportation rules already permit electric scooters in designated bike lanes and on streets with speed limits of 30 mph or below, but cap speeds at 15 mph and ban them from sidewalks, per guidance detailed by Gyroor. Riders must also be at least 16 to legally operate an e-scooter on city streets. Shared rental scooters remain barred from the Lakefront Trail and The 606 path, a policy Hoodline reported the city was weighing changes to earlier this month, even as privately owned scooters remain allowed there.
Beyond theft, e-scooters have been tied to broader crime trends in Chicago. A peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Marketing in late 2025 by University of Illinois researcher Unnati Narang and San José State University's Ruichun Liu found that the arrival of shared e-scooters in Chicago coincided with an 18% increase in street- and vehicle-related crimes, including thefts and break-ins, Forbes reported. The study examined 41 weeks of crime data before and after the city's 2019 e-scooter rollout.
For now, police have not announced an arrest in the North Side thefts, and the suspect's method — carving into ignition housings to defeat the key-start function — echoes tactics seen in past theft sprees on the same stretch of the city. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at the number listed above.
