How Western Springs Burglary Suspect Was Caught

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL – A Western Springs detective's work helped catch a habitual criminal who was believed to have burglarized a local house, a police report indicates.

The suspect, 33-year-old Joshua Jones of Chicago, was arrested Sept. 9 after a chase in Elmhurst, police said.

Through a public records request, Patch obtained the police report from Western Springs.

On the morning of Aug. 2, Western Springs police were called to a burglary of a garage and a car, both unlocked, in the 4000 block of Gilbert Avenue.

The suspect stole the resident's wallet, which contained two credit cards, from the car's center console, police said. The resident was informed by a text message from his bank that one of his cards had been used at a Berwyn gas station.

A few hours earlier, La Grange police responded to a report of a person trying to steal a car. The driver of a Dodge sedan was seen speeding away from the area.

Western Springs detective Chase Naber visited the Berwyn gas station, Falcon Fuel Stop, and obtained the receipt of the suspect's purchase of gas and video of the suspect, who was driving a Dodge, police said.

Through contacts with Elmhurst police, Western Springs officers determined the suspect's car was a red Dodge Intrepid.

On Sept. 9, Elmhurst officers saw Jones in the Dodge Intrepid in a parking lot at North Avenue and Villa Road, according to the report.

When officers approached the car, Jones got out and ran away, police said.

Officers followed Jones and apprehended him four houses away, where he was hiding between a garage and a fence, police said. He was found with a loaded, holstered 9mm Sig Sauer pistol with 10 rounds in the magazine, police said. It was reported to be stolen in a Countryside burglary.

Jones was on probation for burglary in DuPage County and on parole for unlawful use of a weapon by a felon in Cook County, prosecutors said. He has previous convictions for robbery and burglary in Cook County, police said.

Jones' shoes resembled the ones on the man seen on the gas station's surveillance video, the report said.

In the Dodge, an Elmhurst officer found a pawn receipt from Crown Royal Pawn in Chicago. It indicated Jones pawned a speaker that was the same type stolen from the Western Springs house, police said.

During an interview at the DuPage County Jail, Naber and detectives from other towns asked Jones about the crimes.

Jones denied he was ever in Western Springs or Countryside. He said the Dodge Intrepid was not his car and that he was just in it, saying the car belonged to a man who dated his sister.

Jones further told the detectives that he did not pawn the speaker, but a "Mexican guy," an acquaintance, may have.

In Elmhurst, Jones was charged with being an armed habitual criminal, a felony. He remains in the DuPage County Jail.

A review of the phones connected to Jones yielded no evidence to place him at the site of the burglary, the report said.

As a result, Western Springs police did not arrest Jones, but noted he was charged with a Class X felony in Elmhurst