WILMETTE, Ill. (STMW) – Two Wilmette Starbucks stores were hit last week by tip-jar thefts, police reported.

The first was reported Nov. 5 at the Starbucks just west of the Edens Expressway, at 3520 Lake Ave. in the north suburb.

In that incident, an employee said a man took two tip jars containing a probable total of $100 in coins and change.

The employee said the man came in and tried to buy something with a credit card. He said he had to go to the dry cleaners a few doors to the east, but would be back.

After the man left, the employee realized one tip jar was missing.

The employee then saw the suspect get into a car, drive to the store’s drive-up window, and snatch a second tip jar from the window ledge before driving away. He wrote the car license plate down for police.

Two days later, employees of the Starbucks at 1515 Sheridan Road told police that someone had stolen two tip jars from the store counter that day.

One employee said she saw the man standing near the counter and asked what he wanted to drink.

He said he didn’t want anything, so the employee left the area.

When the second employee turned from the man to work on an order he finally made, he ran out to a parked car, then drove off. The second employee realized then that he had stolen the tip boxes.

The loss in the Nov. 7 incident was also about $100.

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