Serial burglar pleads guilty, gets 3-year prison term
A Bloomingdale man who pleaded guilty late last year to committing multiple burglaries in Bloomingdale, Glendale Heights, West Chicago and Wood Dale during the summer of 2013 admitted to similar charges Thursday in Cook County.
Nicholas Panoski, 20, was sentenced to three years in prison in exchange for his guilty pleas to six counts of burglary involving several Schaumburg businesses, court records show.
Panoski, who received credit for 550 days already spent in custody, also was ordered to pay $649 in fines.
Also convicted in the dual-county burglary spree was Panoski's brother, Frank Panoski, 18.
In November, a Cook County judge sentenced Frank Panoski to 30 months of probation in exchange for guilty pleas to a string of Schaumburg burglaries he and his brother committed on July 5, 2013. The targeted business included a gift shop, bike store and fast-food restaurant. That same month, Frank Panoski pleaded guilty in DuPage County to burglarizing hair salons and restaurants during the summer 2013 spree and was sentenced to 30 months of probation and 180 days in the DuPage County Jail.
Prosecutors say the Cook County burglary spree began about 2:30 a.m. July 5, 2013, with one of the brothers throwing a rock through the bike shop window. The duo made off with about $100 and a BMX bike.
About 30 minutes later, he duo smashed the window of a gift shop and took about $150 from the register. Thirty minutes later, they used a rock to smash a Taco Bell window but were unable to open the register. The same thing happened at 3:45 a.m. when they tried to remove cash from another restaurant register and smashed the door with a rock.
Nicholas Panoski also pleaded guilty to burglarizing a pizzeria and a flower shop, both in Schaumburg, on July 16, 2013.
Nicholas Panoski must serve at least 50 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.