No bail for man arrested in Mexico on Wheeling home invasion charges
A former Des Plaines man was ordered held without bail Friday after he was arrested in Guadalajara, Mexico, to face charges in a Wheeling home invasion.
Steven Chung, 28, is one of three men charged in the August 2014 home invasion, during which prosecutors say the defendants held the homeowner at gunpoint and stole his sports memorabilia.
A Cook County judge issued a bond forfeiture warrant for Chung after he failed to show up for a hearing last June.
Wheeling police, Cook County sheriff's officers and the FBI tracked him to Guadalajara, Mexico, where sheriff's police say he taught online classes. Mexican immigration officials arrested Chung Wednesday and returned him to Chicago Thursday, authorities said.
Prosecutors said Chung, Martrell Robinson, 21, of Chicago, and Kristopher Muzzall, 27, also of Chicago, kicked open the homeowner's door, bound his hands and feet with electrical tape and threatened him in an effort to get him to reveal the combination of his safe.
They opened the safe after several failed attempts and removed sports cards prosecutors say were worth thousands of dollars. Within days the stolen items appeared on eBay, authorities said.
Additionally, owners of sports memorabilia stores in Indianapolis, Indiana and Lima, Ohio, identified Chung as the man who sold them the cards, according to prosecutors.
Charges are pending against Muzzall, who next appears in court on Feb. 24. Robinson pleaded guilty to home invasion in June and was sentenced to nine years in prison.
If convicted, Chung faces up to 60 years in prison.