3 Home Burglaries In Western Springs Since Fall: Records

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL – Three house burglaries have occurred in Western Springs since September, with jewelry stolen in at least two cases, according to police records.

Western Springs reported one of them in its weekly blotter. The other two were not included.

Last month, Patch filed a public records request with the village to provide the last three residential burglary reports. This was because Western Springs seemed to have no burglaries when other towns were experiencing them.

The village said it could not release the report on the most recent burglary because it remains under investigation. It was reported on the night of March 10.

About 9 a.m. Sept. 26, police were alerted to a burglary in the 300 block of 46th Street. The homeowner said she left a half hour earlier to drop off her children at school, according to the report. She told officers she left her back door unlocked and did not activate the burglary alarm.

The woman noticed the security camera was broken off from the garage and laying in the driveway. She saw her couch had been moved in an apparent attempt to keep her dog in the living room.

Thousands of dollars worth of jewelry was stolen from a bedroom, police said.

With the help of other departments, Western Springs police identified a suspect who drove the van that they believed was used in the burglary. During an interview at the River Forest police station, the man denied committing burglary. The report does not indicate whether he was charged.

The other burglary report was from Oct. 26, though the street where it occurred was not listed.

The homeowner told officers he had lived in Florida for the last decade, but occasionally returns to his childhood home in Western Springs.

He showed video footage of a man burglarizing his house. The man was described as white, in his 40s, and wearing a cowboy hat, an American flag mask, a gray Carhartt long-sleeve shirt with a gray vest, camouflage gloves, blue jeans, and black and white tennis shoes.

In the video, the suspect looked through jewelry boxes and took a ring box. In that box was believed to be a ring with one- or two-tenths of an ounce of gold.