Wheaton police arrest 3 in 'car hopping' burglaries

Wheaton police are cracking down on one of the newer trends in crime committed by young adults known as "car hopping."

Car hopping is when young people, usually during or after a party, go around a neighborhood trying to find unlocked cars or garages they can steal from.

Wheaton police said Friday they've seen several recent cases of this.

"Entering another person's vehicle, whether locked or unlocked, with the intent to remove or damage any item, constitutes burglary under the law in Illinois," said Wheaton police in a written statement Friday.

That's a lesson three area youths will soon learn.

Wheaton police arrested Hector R. Guercio, 17, of 21W635 Monticello Road in Glen Ellyn; Michael J. Behrends, 17, of 97 S. Park Boulevard in Glen Ellyn, and a third, unnamed, male juvenile on Thursday.

Police said the three arrests occurred after they received a report of suspicious persons looking into parked cars in the area of Emerson Court and Whitman Lane in Wheaton in the early morning.

Wheaton police found Guercio, Behrends and the juvenile in the area in possession of evidence indicating they had burglarized motor vehicles in the area.

Burglary is a felony punishable by up to a year in prison.