Mount Prospect man pleads guilty to computer theft

A 26-year-old Mount Prospect man, who authorities say stole two computers from a parked car last September while he was out on bond on charges of retail theft, pleaded guilty to both charges Monday.

Frank Sabo was sentenced to three years in prison in exchange for his guilty plea to the class 2 felony of burglary to a motor vehicle. Cook County Judge Ellen Mandletort also sentenced Sabo to one year in prison for stealing a shirt from Carson’s in Mount Prospect.

Because Sabo was on bond at the time of his second offense, he must serve the sentences consecutively, Mandletort said.

Mount Prospect police charged Sabo with retail theft in August 2012 after he walked out of the Carson’s store with a shirt he hadn’t paid for, said Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Kristin Piper. After a store employee confronted him, Sabo fled but was apprehended later, Piper said.

Mount Prospect police questioned Sabo in early December, about a Sept. 23, 2012, burglary to a car parked on We Go Trail in Mount Prospect. At the time, Sabo was in the custody of Des Plaines police, who arrested him on Nov. 30, 2012, after surveillance showed him breaking into a vehicle on the 900 block of Greenview Avenue in Des Plaines. Sabo later admitted to burglarizing 37 other vehicles in the same area, Des Plaines authorities said.

During Monday’s hearing, Sabo admitted stealing the shirt and the computers, which prosecutors say he sold in Chicago.

Sabo, who received credit for 95 days in custody, must complete at least 50 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole. He next appears in a Skokie courtroom on Wednesday to face the Des Plaines burglary charges.