Man gets 6 years for Christmas Day smash-and-grab in Bloomingdale

A Chicago man convicted in a Grinch-like Christmas Day heist in Bloomingdale is headed to prison.

Arthur Holmes, 35, of the 700 block of E. 93rd Street, has been sentenced to six years in prison for breaking into and stealing merchandise on Christmas morning from the Bloomingdale Best Buy. Holmes pleaded guilty to burglary on March 23.

Prosecutors say Holmes and several accomplices crashed their car into the store's front doors at 4:21 a.m. on Dec. 25 and stole more than $39,000 of merchandise, including laptops and televisions.

When police arrived eight minutes later, Holmes and his unidentified accomplices fled in two separate vehicles. The officers began following one of the vehicles, which had its license plate covered with a piece of cardboard.

Following a brief chase, the vehicle ran out of gas at which time Holmes and three others abandoned the vehicle and tried to get into the other one.

Holmes was taken into custody.

"Today's sentence sends a loud and clear message to offenders that if you commit this type of brazen crime in DuPage County, you will be caught, you will be prosecuted and you will spend a significant amount of time behind bars," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said in a written statement.

Sentencing guidelines require that Holmes serve at least half his sentence before being eligible for parole.