Brookfield police believe they have solved a string of home burglaries with the arrest of two Berwyn residents last week.
Around noon on April 11, Brookfield police, assisted by Riverside, Lyons and canine units from Countryside and the Cook County Sheriff’s Police, arrested Luis C. Andrade, 17, and a 16-year-old juvenile. Brookfield police charged the pair with four counts each of residential burglary. Meanwhile, LaGrange Park Police Commander Ed Rompa confirmed that village had added an additional burglary count against each of the alleged offenders.
Andrade was held on $100,000 bond, with a court date for today at Maybrook. The other boy was turned over to juvenile authorities.
Just before 11 a.m. on April 11 a resident of the 3800 block of Hollywood Avenue in Brookfield, arrived home to find that the back door of her residence had been damaged. After hearing noise coming from the second floor of the house, the resident fled and called 911.
When officers arrived at the house, they learned that two suspects had run from the home in opposite directions. One of the two, according to the resident who called police, jumped from the second story window of the house.
Police set up a search perimeter around the south Hollywood section of Brookfield, and in conjunction with the officers from other municipalities, initiated a block-by-block search of the area.
About an hour later, one of the suspects was found hiding inside a parked Ford van that the two had driven to the area of the burglary. A neighborhood resident spotted the second suspect underneath a porch.
After a short foot chase, that suspect was also taken into custody. According to Brookfield Police Lt. Michael Manescalchi, police discovered jewelry, small electronics and cash on the two suspects. The personal belongings were identified by the victim.
After interviewing the suspects, detectives searched the homes of the two suspects, although Manescalchi would not confirm whether other evidence was uncovered there. However, Brookfield police found enough evidence to link the pair with three other burglaries in Brookfield from December 2004 to March 2005.
On Dec. 6, a resident of the 3800 block of Park Avenue reported that someone had stolen several gifts from under the Christmas tree, including DVD and CD players along with miscellaneous clothing.
Then on Jan. 5, a resident of the 3500 block of Prairie Avenue reported that several items, including a car stereo, jewelry, a DVD player and Playstation 2 system and several video games were stolen.
Finally, on March 25 a resident in the 3700 block of Raymond Avenue reported that two video game systems, games, a digital camera and two bottle of tequila had been taken from the home.
LaGrange Park police charged them in connection with the burglary of a house in the 1500 block of Kemman Avenue, which happened on Jan. 11.
