Elgin man sentenced for Huntley burglary

A 32-year-old Elgin man has been sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to a Huntley burglary, court records show.

Damian A. Franco faced two felony burglary charges in addition to obstructing justice, aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, criminal trespass to property and a vehicle, and possessing less than 15 grams of a substance containing methamphetamine.

In exchange for his guilty plea to one of the felony burglary charges, prosecutors dropped the other charges.

Judge Michael Coppedge sentenced Franco, who will receive credit for the 380 days he's spent in custody. He was also sentenced to a year of mandatory supervised release.

Franco was arrested after Huntley police officers responded on Feb. 27, 2021, to the Walmart at 12300 S. Route 47 in Huntley for a retail theft, according to the McHenry County state's attorney's office. Police officers attempted to pull over a vehicle that matched the description of the one involved in the retail theft.

Both the driver and passenger - identified by prosecutors as Franco - jumped from the car and ran, according to the release.

The vehicle had been reported stolen out of Elgin.

Franco was accused of entering a garage in the 11200 block of Grove Street with the intent of concealing himself from police and committing a theft, according to the indictment. He was attempting to hot wire a car in the garage, the state's attorney's office said.

Another man - Luis M. Arreola, 36, also of Elgin - was arrested about 20 minutes later after a Huntley resident reported seeing a person take a bicycle from a residence in the area of Timer Drive.

Arreola pleaded guilty to aggravated fleeing in July as part of a plea deal and was sentenced to a year in prison, court records show. He currently is on parole, which will be complete in October.