Man gets 6 years for selling drugs, stealing clothes

A Chicago man who broke into a Crystal Lake-area home last year to get a change of clothes while fleeing police was sentenced to six years in prison.

The judge hearing the case Friday levied the sentence after rejecting a request to put him in the state's "boot camp" program for young offenders.

Norman Brown, 21, of the 2700 block of Gladys, had been facing a maximum nine-year prison sentence under the terms of a plea deal in which he admitted to charges of residential burglary, possession of a controlled substance and unlawful delivery of a controlled substance stemming from an unusual chain of events last June.

Those events began shortly after 11 a.m. June 25, 2008, when police responded to a rear-end crash on Route 31, near Oak Crest Road in Nunda Township, only to find that the occupants of the vehicle that had been struck had fled the scene.

About nine hours later, police were called by the owners of a residence near the crash scene who reported that someone had broken into their home, rummaged through closets, stolen men's clothes and left behind a damp shirt and pair of pants.

Nothing else was missing from the home.

On June 27, police in Crystal Lake arrested Brown during a traffic stop in which, authorities said, he was found in possession of cocaine. Authorities later linked Brown to the June 25 break-in and charged him with that offense, as well as with allegations he was caught selling crack cocaine during an undercover McHenry County Sheriff's investigation.

Although Brown was hoping to be enrolled in the state's six-month boot camp program, Judge Joseph Condon said his record - including instances of violating previous probation sentences and breaking rules while in the McHenry County jail - indicate he would not complete it.

"Boot camp is a lot more difficult than probation, and a lot more difficult than the jail, and you have not been able to conform your behavior to those rules," Condon said. "Boot camp (would be) a waste of time."