Wheaton man gets 22-year sentence for 12th burglary conviction
It will be at least 11 years before Tracy Hopkins can try to burglarize another home.
The 45-year-old Wheaton man was sentenced to 22 years in prison Monday for stealing guns during the burglary of a Wheaton house in July. However, he only has to serve half of the time if he behaves behind bars.
Hopkins pleaded guilty earlier in the month to being an armed habitual offender. It is at least the 12th time since 1982 he has been imprisoned for burglary, DuPage County Assistant State's Attorney Steven Knight said.
Knight had sought a tougher sentence because of Hopkins' chronic recidivism and the fact that he had been out of prison for less than two months when he was caught burglarizing homes again.
"This guy is serving a life sentence on the installment plan," Knight said after Monday's hearing. "The single-digit sentences aren't cutting it."
Most recently, Hopkins was jailed for the 2004 burglaries of homes in Bloomingdale and Wheaton. He received a nine-year sentence for that conviction and was paroled after serving half the term.
Hopkins had claimed in the past that he burglarized homes to feed a drug addiction, but in court Monday, Hopkins blamed it on being molested as a child, Knight said.
Hopkins was caught burglarizing a home July 31 on the 1700 block of North President Street in Wheaton. Police Cmdr. Joseph Eversole said police began keeping an eye out for Hopkins after learning that several homes in the neighborhood of the newly paroled convict had been burglarized in June. Eversole said Hopkins would knock on front doors and if there was no answer he would go around the back of the house and break in.
The day he was arrested, Hopkins knocked on the door of an occupied house and inquired about buying a car when confronted. The suspicious homeowner called police after Hopkins left, and soon police spotted him breaking into the home on President Street. Officers arrested him after he had emerged from the house with his bounty, which included two guns.