Granite City dealership owner offers reward for stolen items

A Granite City business owner is offering a cash reward to anyone who helps him catch the person who burglarized his dealership Dec. 18.

Mike Antonovich, owner of Mike’s Auto Sales, said the person who broke into his shop used a crowbar at the main entrance and spent about four hours going through the business. Antonovich described the burglar as a skinny man, although his face was covered by a mask.

The person took several items from the lot at 1411 Madison Ave. Antonovich said those included: keys to 75 vehicles, a DeWalt impact driver, a DeWalt cordless screw drill, a Rescue 1800 jump box, a 1973 Honda XR-75 dirt bike and a 2005 Dodge Durango — which is gray with a red pinstripe and missing a rear hubcap.

He noted the person most likely stole the jump box because the Dodge Durango had a dead battery at the time of the burglary.

While Antonovich has disabled the vehicles on his lot to prevent the burglar from using the stolen keys to take them, he is puzzled as to why the person stole the dirt bike from his garage.

“It would be like breaking into a jewelry store and taking an old alarm clock and leaving the diamonds,” he said, adding that the bike was popular when he was a kid and that it’s probably worth about $500 now.

“I was going to fix that thing up, make it look brand new. Just as something cool to do.”

Antonovich is offering a reward starting at — but not limited to — $500 to anyone with information on his stolen property.

“I could give a nice hefty reward depending on what somebody leads me to,” he said. “This guy is going to get careless. He is going to break in to somewhere else.”

Lt. Nick Novacich with Granite City police said officers are still actively investigating the case, adding that if someone came forward with information it may help investigators crack the case.

“We do have the case and are investigating,” he said. “As it stands right now, we don’t have a lot to go on.”

Anyone with information can call Antonovich directly at 618-779-7964 or the Granite City Police Department at 618-877-6111.

This story was originally published January 3, 2018 at 3:34 PM with the headline "Granite City dealership owner offers reward for stolen items."