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Police: Man stole backpack from fire station while firefighters were on a call

A 19-year-old South Holland man has been charged in connection with a July 2 burglary at Aurora Fire Department's Station Number 8 while firefighters were on emergency calls, authorities said Monday.

Cameron L. Duke, of the 1000 block of E. 66th St., entered the empty station on the 3700 block of McCoy Drive through an unlocked door sometime after 4:30 p.m. when the station's last crew answered a fire call, police said.

When the firefighters returned about 30 minutes later, one of them noticed his backpack containing personal items valued at $450 was missing from his bunk.

Less than 24 hours later, on July 3, police responded to a crash on the 300 block of Gregory Street.

An officer found Duke behind the wheel of his 2006 Chevrolet Impala and discovered he had failed to negotiate a turn and ended up colliding with a parked 2000 Toyota Corolla.

As the officer questioned Duke, he detected a strong odor of cannabis coming from the interior of the Impala.

Duke consented to a search of the vehicle and it was during the search that the officer found proceeds still in the backpack that were taken in the fire station burglary.

Duke was taken into custody without incident.

In addition to burglary, Duke was cited for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident.

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