Sleeping Burglar Discovered By Workers Next Door In Wilmette, Prosecutors Say

WILMETTE, IL — A Chicago man is accused of burglarizing a Wilmette home while a family slept inside, stealing a car from their detached garage, and then, instead of driving away, taking the items he had just stolen into a vacant house next door and falling asleep.

Jacque Smith, 25, of the 6100 block of North Mozart Street, was charged with two counts of burglary stemming from an incident in the 900 block of Sheridan Road, according to police and prosecutors.

"Sure sounds like a residential burglary as opposed than a burglary to me," Cook County Associate Judge Timothy Chambers said at a bond hearing Wednesday. "But I'll leave it up to the state['s attorney's office] whether there's an additional complaint to follow."

Around 8 a.m. Tuesday morning, a resident discovered that someone had gotten into their house the night before through an unlocked sliding glass door and stolen alcohol, a wallet, car keys, computers, a coin collection, and a car from a detached garage, according to Cook County State's Attorney Danielle Levin.

"Next door, construction workers found [Smith] to be asleep inside of a home," Levin said. "Close to [him] was the [neighbor's] alcohol, computer and wallet."

Police said they found the stolen car parked about four blocks away in the 600 block of Central Avenue.

Smith admitted entering both unlocked homes after waiving his right to remain silent, according to Levin. She said Smith has a 2014 robbery conviction, for which he was sentenced to probation and two burglary convictions from 2016, for which he was sentenced to four years in state prison.

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Assistant Public Defender Jarnail Kanda said Smith had a 10th grade education and a child on the way. He said he had reason to believe Smith should be ordered held at the Cook County Jail's hospital.

Chambers set Smith's bond at $250,000 in the case of the occupied home and $200,000 for the initial theft. Both were deposit bonds, or D-bonds, such that he would need to post $45,000 in cash to be released ahead of his next court date Nov. 3.