Suspects nabbed for rash of burglaries in dozens of northwest suburban communities

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Updated: November 22, 2012 4:50AM

Four people have been charged in connection with a more than three dozen burglaries of landscaping equipment in various northwest suburban communities, police said.

Two men, Sergio Gutierrez and Victor Labra-Figueroa, were both charged with 19 counts of burglary including two in Skokie that occurred June 30 on the 5100 block of Church Street and Oct. 11 on the 5700 block of Howard Street,

Elisabeth Roldan was charged with five counts of burglary and Salvador Magdaleno was charged with two counts of burglary in connection with incidents in other towns. The addresses of the suspects were not released.

Skokie police said the charges came after local northwest suburban police departments in recent months experienced dozens of forced burglary to storage trailer incidents where landscaping equipment was targeted. During the course of these investigations, suspects and suspect vehicles were developed, they said.

Skokie police investigators participated in a multi-jurisdictional task force to investigate the incidents.

The task force Nov. 11 conducted surveillance on the suspects and suspect vehicles, which were followed to two locations in Wheeling, they said. The suspects were apprehended after taking landscaping equipment from storage trailers. More than $35,000 in stolen landscaping equipment was recovered during the course of the investigation, police said.

In addition to Skokie police detectives, suspects were interviewed by detectives from Wheeling, Glenview, Mount Prospect, Arlington Heights, Highland Park, Des Plaines, River Grove, Northbrook, Niles, Franklin Park and Morton Grove. More than 45 burglary cases were cleared as a result of the investigation, police said.

Bond was set at $250,000 each for Gutierrez and Labra-Figueroa and $20,000 for Roldan. A ‘no-bond’ arrest warrant was issued for Magdaleno charging him with two counts of burglary.

The suspects are scheduled to appear in court next Nov. 29 in Skokie.