Pair charged with massive burglary in Barrington Hills

Two men were ordered held on $250,000 bond Thursday after being charged with possession of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property stolen from a Barrington Hills home.

The arrests of Nicola Pugliese, 21, and Edward McCluskey, 32, were sparked when Pugliese ran a stop sign in Barrington while driving a car full of the stolen guns, jewelry and electronics.

Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Ji Un Saw told Associate Judge Raymond Collins on Thursday that Pugliese was eastbound on Barrington Road about 11:40 p.m. on Sept. 7 when a patrol officer saw him run the stop sign.

The officer stopped the car, Saw said, and noticed a rifle case, 26-inch television set, radio, laptop computer and a large plastic bin containing jewelry in the back seat.

A search of the entire car turned up an AK-47 assault rifle, 11 loaded ammunition magazines, 8 handguns, 12 boxes of ammunition, a pry bar and a pair of pliers, she said.

The jewelry is estimated to be worth $500,000 to $600,000, Saw said.

Police were able to find the owner's name inside the computer, Saw said, and traced all the property to the burglary of a house on the first block of Hawthorne Lane in Barrington Hills.

Pugliese, of the 7500 block of Bristol Lane in Hanover Park, told police he was not involved in the burglary, but instead had loaned his car to McCluskey, and McCluskey had returned the car to him with the stolen goods inside.

McCluskey, of the 300 block of Franklin Street in Barrington, had forced Pugliese to drive him home at gunpoint, according to Pugliese's statement to police, just before the traffic stop. McCluskey was later arrested at his residence.

Both men told Collins they are unemployed, and Collins appointed the Lake County public defender and a conflict attorney to represent them.

McCluskey said he served time in prison for a residential burglary conviction in DuPage County. Pugliese said he has a pending theft case in Cook County.

Both are charged with theft, possession of a weapon by a felon and unlawful use of a weapon, and burglary charges are pending in Cook County.

Collins ordered both to appear in court Sept. 16.