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Boat bandits are working the lakefront.
A boat owner at Diversey Harbor has posted video of a break-in and says it is part of a much bigger problem.
A couple says they make their boat their home during the summer, but now they feel like they've had the sanctity of their home broken. They pay $9,000 a year just to park their boat and are not happy with security.
The early morning hours at Diversey Harbor are usually pretty quiet, but on Monday morning that silence was broken by two men scrambling to escape Dean and Denise Katsaros' boat. All of it was captured on a video camera installed Sunday.
“Very scary. For our safety. Fortunately, nobody was hurt and nothing was taken,” Dean said.
The video picks up as two men enter the boat and zip the entrance behind them. Then, they hear a noise. It was Dean's dog, who hears the two men and barks, scaring them away.
And it's not the first time the couple's privacy's been violated. Dean’s wife says two weeks ago they had an expensive floating device, known as an aqua lily, stolen.
“We're like okay, isolated incident. We report it to the harbor master and he says 'well actually you're the 6th aqua lily to go missing this season,’” Denise said.
In fact, they say they've had a combined $1k worth of stuff taken in the past two weeks and their friend says he's been hit as well.
“Women are scared to walk to their car, boats are getting broken into. People are just jumping on people's boats,” said Matthew Simmons.
“That was a violation of our personal space. That’s two intruders coming into our bedroom in broad daylight,” Denise said.
He didn't know exactly how to answer when asked what if his dog had not woke them up, but now, Dean says, he's taking precautions.
“I do have a Glock 21 and I’m going to have it on board going forward. I’m not going to allow ourselves to be out in that situation again without protection,” Dean said.