Cook Co. teens charged in burglary spree
A trip to buy cheap cigarettes in Lake County turned into a roughly six-week burglary spree for five suburban Cook County teenagers, authorities allege.
Police say the teens -- four have been arrested and a fifth is being questioned by police -- got lost in Lake County one day in April and stole a GPS navigation system from an unlocked car to find their way home.
Realizing the ease of stealing from unlocked cars, they burglarized vehicles in Arlington Heights, Gurnee, Lake Zurich, Libertyville, Wheeling and unincorporated Lake County, authorities said.
Ironically, the GPS system the teens initially stole in Lake County, and later sold to an Arlington Heights pawn shop, led to their capture.
The pawn shop owner tipped off Arlington Heights police to a possibly stolen GPS system. It had the Lake Zurich owner's address programmed into it, and the shop provided police with a photo of the person who sold the item.
Lake Zurich police arrested and charged Edward Colbeck, 19, of Arlington Heights and Robert Corl, 17, of Wheeling each with seven counts of burglary to a motor vehicle. Alan Wiseman, 17, of Wheeling was charged with four counts of burglary to a motor vehicle.
A juvenile suspect from Wheeling is expected to be charged with burglary and referred to the juvenile court system. An unidentified 17-year-old from Prospect Heights is being questioned, police said.
More charges may be pending from Lake Zurich and other jurisdictions.
The arrested teens admitted to making six to eight burglary trips in various towns over four to six weeks, each time hitting about 20 unlocked cars, said Lake Zurich detective Tony Grunder.
Police believe the teens may be responsible for more burglaries than they confessed to doing.
"They did so many and they didn't really know where they were at," Grunder said.
The teens sold a majority of the stolen items on the street to friends, acquaintances and passers by, or pawned some items at various pawn shops, Grunder said.
Items ranged from laptop computers to loose change.
"They were looking for easy targets," Lake Zurich Deputy Police Chief Patrick Finlon said. "People can do things to mitigate this, and it is to lock your cars."
Colbeck and Wiseman each posted 10 percent of a $25,000 bond and are out on bail. Corl was released on a $60,000 personal recognizance bond. No court dates were available.
Each burglary count, a class 2 felony, could result in more than a year in a state prison.