19-Year-Old Charged With Possession Of Stolen Car In Skokie

SKOKIE, IL — A Glenview teen awaiting trial on a residential burglary charge was arrested by Skokie police Monday and charged with possession of a stolen motor vehicle, authorities said.

Evan Cassier, 19, of the 600 block of Echo Lane, was taken into custody in the 3100 block of Old Glenview Road in Wilmette around 2:45 a.m., about 15 minutes after officers had been dispatched to a 911 call that someone appeared to be trying to steal a catalytic converter from a car around the corner in the 1000 block of Frontage Road in Skokie, according to police and prosecutors.

Officers found Cassier in the area searching through the interior of a parked car with its front passenger door and trunk open and several items sitting on its roof, prosecutors said Tuesday at his initial court appearance.

"Officers attempted to make contact with [Cassier], who fled from the vehicle," Assistant State's Attorney Jenna Reinhardt said. "Officers pursued [Cassier] and were able to take him into custody."

Reinhardt said Cassier later told police he had been on a walk when he found the car unlocked with its key fob inside in the 1200 block of Sherwood Road, got in and drove it into Skokie. Officers later spoke to the owner and learned the car had been stolen from outside their Glenview home hours earlier.

Cassier has been out on bond since September 2021, when he was accused of burglarizing a Wilmette home the prior month during a funeral for its late owner, a former Cook County sheriff's deputy who died while awaiting trial on more than a dozen felony sex crime charges.

After prosecutors filed a motion to find him in violation of his bail in that case, Cassier was ordered to undergo electronic monitoring. And following his bond hearing on the new charge, he was ordered to also undergo pretrial monitoring.

In both cases he was given recognizance bond, having already posted the $2,500 cash portion of his bail in the pending home burglary case.

Related: Home Burglary During Accused Abuser's Funeral Leads To Arrest