1 arrested after string of storage unit burglaries in Milan
By Rachel Davis
The Milan Police Department has made an arrest in connection with multiple storage unit burglaries in the Quad Cities.
Over the past several months, the department has been investigating a string of storage unit burglaries in the Milan area. While investigating these burglaries, they discovered that the same type of storage unit burglaries had occurred in Silvis and the jurisdictional area of the Rock Island County Sheriff’s Department. During the investigation, it was determined that the burglaries were committed using a U-Haul truck and by removing and replacing padlocks.
On February 4, Milan police officers were called to the 2200 block of East First Street regarding storage units being burglarized. Officers were able to view surveillance footage of the burglaries and noticed that the vehicle information of the suspected U-Haul was in the surveillance footage. Officers were able to identify the driver of the U-Haul as Lynn M. Yowger, age 39 of Milan. On February 5, at about 6:55 a.m., the Milan Police Department again responded to the 2200 block of East First Street in reference to a suspicious vehicle. Officers located a U-Haul being driven by Yowger and during the contact, officers observed several possible stolen items, padlocks and bolt cutters in the vehicle.
Yowger was arrested and charged with burglary, a Class 2 felony, by the Rock Island County State’s Attorney Office and is being heled in the Rock Island County Jail on $50,000 bond. Yowger has been implicated in several additional burglaries and additional charges are expected. Investigators from Milan, Silvis, the Rock Island Sheriff’s Department and the Illinois State Police were able to recover thousands of dollars’ worth of stolen items and will eventually return them to their rightful owners. This is still an on-going investigation. Anyone with information regarding this incident or similar incidents is asked to call Crime Stoppers of the Quad Cities at (309) 762-9500 or the Milan Police Department Investigations Division at (309) 787-8516.
