Prospect Hts. man gets 6 years for burglary

A Cook County judge sentenced a Prospect Heights man to six years in prison for taking a duffel bag from a car parked in a Prospect Heights restaurant lot in the 600 block of N. Milwaukee Ave.

Robert Kee, of the 600 block of Piper Lane, pleaded guilty to one count of burglary Tuesday in a Rolling Meadows courtroom. This marks the third burglary conviction for Kee, 39, whose criminal background dictated prosecutors upgrade the charge from a class 2 felony to a class X, which carries a sentence of six to 30 years in prison.

On March 5, a witness spotted Kee walking away from a co-worker's vehicle carrying a bag that also belonged to the co-worker, said Assistant State's Attorney Mike Andre. The witness confronted Kee, who dropped the bag and tried to leave, Andre said. The witness and the car's owner detained Kee until police arrived. He later admitted to police that he broke into the car and took the property, Andre said.

Kee, who was on parole at the time of the crime, told Judge Thomas Fecarotta, that he had been "trying to stay straight," but admitted that when he drinks he doesn't think about the consequences of his actions.

"It kills me to send you to the penitentiary for six years for breaking into a car," said Fecarotta, "but I have to, according to the law."

Fecarotta offered Kee alcohol abuse counseling through the Illinois Department of Corrections, but Kee declined saying he had already been through counseling.