Three charged in Wheeling car burglaries

Three teenagers have been charged in a series of car burglaries in Wheeling.

Tiffany Gravitt, 19 of Joliet, Fernando Esquinca, 18, of Joliet, and Alex Ortiz, 19 of Wheeling, were charged with two counts each of burglary to a motor vehicle, according to a news release. The charges are felonies punishable by up to seven years in prison.

Around 12:20 a.m. Wednesday, a man on the 200 block of Fletcher Drive saw a man inside one of his vehicles and another man next to his other vehicle. When the pair saw the resident, they got into a white vehicle and drove away with stolen property, police said.

About 15 minutes later, Wheeling police were called to the 800 block of Mark Lane where two people were trying to break into vehicles, the release said.

Then, at 12:44 a.m., police responded to the 1600 block of Woodduck Lane in the Mallard Lake apartment complex where two men were seen attempting to break into vehicles.

Officers got there in time to see the white car, driven by Gravitt, commit a traffic violation leaving the Mallard Lake apartment complex, authorities said. Police pulled them over, the release said.

"Gravitt admitted to the officers that she was driving around with Ortiz and Esquinca and that they were looking for vehicles to break into and for property to steal," according to the release.

Officers also recovered stolen property from a fourth, unreported car burglary in Wheeling.

Gravitt, Ortiz and Esquinca appeared in Cook County bond court on Friday.

Gravitt and Esquinca were released on their own recognizance. Ortiz was ordered held on $100,000 bail because at the time of the burglaries he was on parole for a 2013 conviction for possession of a firearm by a gang member.

The three will next appear in court on Oct. 10.