Lake Co. man pleads guilty to burglary

A Round Lake Beach man who received a punch in the mouth for breaking into a car in the Gurnee Mills parking lot may also collect up to six years in prison.

Darrold Scott, 21, pleaded guilty to burglary Tuesday during a hearing before Lake County Circuit Judge John Phillips.

Assistant State's Attorney Steven Derue said Scott, of the 800 block of Fox Chase Drive, was caught on security cameras wandering the parking lots at the mall looking for unlocked cars April 14.

Just after 8 a.m., a Gurnee man returned to his 2002 Ford Focus and called security after he found the face plate of his car radio missing.

About the same time and a few yards away, a Waukegan woman saw Scott inside her 1997 Cadillac and called Gurnee police.

Scott got out of the woman's car and apologized to her, Derue said, but his remorse was apparently rejected. Derue said when the woman looked inside her car and saw the steering column had been broken open and ignition wires were exposed, she punched Scott in the mouth.

She was holding Scott against her car when police arrived and took him into custody, Derue said.

Scott pleaded guilty to one of the two counts of burglary against him and will face a maximum of six years in prison when he returns to court to be sentenced July 15.