Cville teens charged in Sunday car burglaries

A 15-year-old Carpentersville boy was among three teenagers charged Monday in connection with a rash of car burglaries Sunday in Algonquin, Lake in the Hills and Crystal Lake.

Crystal Lake police also arrested Carpentersville residents Maurilio Ruiz, 18, of 215 Granada Road, and Eric Hernandez, 18, 621 Jefferson Ave, in connection with the break-ins.

The trio were charged with three counts of criminal damage to property over $300, three counts of burglary to a motor vehicle, and one count of possession of burglary tools, all felonies. They also face three misdemeanor counts of theft under $300.

Ruiz and Hernandez remained in custody at the McHenry County jail Monday, pending a court appearance Tuesday morning.

The 15-year-old boy was released to his parents and will have his case heard in juvenile court.

Crystal Lake Deputy Police Chief Dennis Harris said that at 11:59 p.m. Sunday, an officer in the 500 block of Darlington Lane saw suspicious activity in a parking lot for the Darlington Court Apartments. The officer investigated and discovered the teenagers had broken into three cars there, police said.

The trio admitted to police that they burglarized four more cars the same day - three in Lake in the Hills and one in Algonquin, Harris said.

They had been taking CD players, GPS units and anything else they could sell for cash, Harris said.

If convicted on all counts, police said, Ruiz and Hernandez would face between three and seven years in prison.