Police arrest teen twice in one day

An Arlington Heights teen was caught with a backpack full of stolen GPS units Friday but decided to test his luck a few hours later and was arrested for a second time, police said.

The 16-year-old Arlington Heights youth was arrested twice on the same day for breaking into a number of cars and stealing electronics. Police said they have linked the teen to eight instances of car burglaries in the past week and think there could be more.

Arlington Heights detectives said a faculty member at an Arlington Heights high school noticed the 16-year-old acting suspicious Friday afternoon and searched his locker. The person found a backpack filled with GPS units and called the school's police resource officer to question the student.

The student admitted stealing the electronics from a number of cars parked around the Hasbrook Park area, police said.

Police took him into the station, but he was released Friday afternoon because he was not eligible to be sent to a juvenile detention center.

That eligibility changed a few hours later.

Police received a call at about 11:45 p.m. Friday from a security guard in the Hasbrook Park area who noticed a teen "acting suspicious" in a nearby parking lot.

As the officers searched the area around Chestnut Avenue and West Appletree Lane, they spotted the same teen from the earlier arrest.

The teen took off running north down Chestnut with police in pursuit.

Police caught up with him a few blocks away and found stolen GPS units from several cars.

The teen was sent to a juvenile detention center in Chicago, police said.