Two charged in string of Asian store burglaries

Two men who initially drew police attention after being caught urinating behind a Mount Prospect strip mall have been charged as a result of a multijurisdictional investigation into 40 burglaries at mostly Asian food stores in the Northwest suburbs and Chicago.

Seong Lee, 43, of the 8500 block of North Waukegan Road in Morton Grove, and Nelson Cotto, 45, of 2700 block of North Merrimac in Chicago, are charged with burglary, police said Monday.

the charges stem from an investigation into break-ins in several communities, including Prospect Heights, Mount Prospect, Buffalo Grove, Skokie, Des Plaines, Niles, Lincolnwood, Glenview, Wheeling, Northbrook and unincorporated Cook County.

A bond hearing was held Monday at the Skokie courthouse, according to a news release from the Niles Police Department.

Lee and Cotto came under suspicion Sept. 6 when a Mount Prospect police officer stopped two men for public urination behind a strip mall at Algonquin and Busse roads. Upon inspection of their car, the officer found several pry bars, a mask and gloves, which were seized by police, according to the Niles news release.

The men were let go without charges at the time. However, investigators from area police departments looking into numerous commercial burglaries identified their car as matching the description of a vehicle used in an Asian restaurant burglary in Niles.

A multijurisdictional task force conducted surveillance on the two men, police said. In the early morning hours of Sept. 17, investigators observed the pair committing a burglary at LaTezoateca Mexican Grocery, 586 Potter Road near Ballard Road in Des Plaines, according to police.

The suspects threw a large rock through the glass door of the store, entered and took roughly $180 from the cash register, police said. They were arrested on the spot by the surveillance team.

The two suspects also were observed throwing a large rock through a large glass window at R&W Manufacturing at Oak Park and Jarvis Avenue in Niles before the Des Plaines burglary, but they did not enter that building, police said.

Niles police were able to clear up nine burglaries as a result of this arrest, according to the department.

The two were charged in another Des Plaines burglary at Dotombori Japanese Restaurant, 1526 Miner St., on Sept. 15, Des Plaines Police Chief Jim Prandini said.