Crime & Safety
2 Men Charged in Burglary After Traffic Stop Uncovers Stolen Gun: Police
The suspects were pulled over Sunday in Park City, and an investigation connected them to an earlier Lake County home burglary.
LAKE BLUFF, IL—Police apprehended two suspects Sunday in connection with a residential burglary earlier this month thanks to a neighbor who reported the license plate of a suspicious vehicle, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Department.
On May 18, sheriff's deputies took a report of a residential burglary in the 200 block of Juneway Terrace in unincorporated Lake Bluff in which a firearm was one of the items taken. While investigating the crime, detectives talked with a neighbor who gave them the license plate and description of a suspicious vehicle that had been in the area at the time of the burglary.
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On Sunday, May 29, Park City police recovered the stolen gun from the earlier burglary during a traffic stop. Lake County Sheriff's detectives later confirmed that the car in the stop was the same one the neighbor had identified, and a search of the driver's home Tuesday uncovered items reported stolen from the residential burglary, according to the sheriff's department.
The driver—Theopolis Owens, 25, of the 700 block of South Chestnut Avenue, Park City—was charged with felony residential burglary, possession of stolen property and felony theft over $500.
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Martell Ford, of the 2100 block of 18th Street, Milwaukee, was a passenger in Owens' car and in possession of the stolen gun during the traffic stop. He was charged with felony unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and two counts of felony aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.
Both men are being held at Lake County Jail; Owens on $50,000.00 bail and Ford on $100,000 bail.
PHOTOS: Theopolis Owens (left) and Martell Ford (Lake County Sheriff's Department)
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