A weirdo 21 year old dude from Cicero in Chicago named Dany Y. Ortiz is facing several counts of burglary after embarking on a tour of different pizza joints in various towns around his neighbourhood.

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I suppose that sounds like a regular activity, but the reason Ortiz is facing criminal charges is because he would pay for said pizza by robbing unlocked cars in the area of any loose change or dollar bills that he might find in them. An original and cheap tactic I guess.

The pizza crime spree went on for a month and police were first alerted when they were called to the burglary of an unlocked car. Surveillance footage nearby showed a man in pyjamas and slippers rummaging through the car looking for loose change.

Over the next week, several other robberies of unlocked cars were reported, but the police knew that they were linked because the perpetrator would ignore expensive electronic equipment and instead just go for the loose change. Good police work guys.

One homeowner spotted a suspicious looking truck near his house at the time the burglary and police were able to track the plates to the home of Ortiz, where they found him smoking weed on his front porch. Fitting the stereotype of a guy who robs unlocked cars to buy pizza, sure.

Ortiz pretty much cracked straight away and admitted that he had been stealing change from unlocked cars in different neighbourhoods so he could check out the different pizza joints in each one to find out which he liked the best. He had staked out a bunch of cool looking pizza places in May, and returned to each one periodically over June to try their pizza with money stolen in the area. Weird.

Here’s what Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel said:

That statement in itself is usual and demonstrates the length offenders will go to get what they want – in this case pizza.

This is one of the most unusual and bizarre burglary patterns I have ever come across in my 31 years in law enforcement.

Ortiz admitted his favourite pizza was from the Slice Factory at 421 N. Harlem Ave. in Oak Park.

Ringing endorsement there eh? Although this is a completely weird crime spree, I’ve gotta say that the weirdest thing about it all is that people don’t bother locking their cars at night over in Chicago? Who the hell ever does that anywhere?

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