5-Time Burglar Hits Shorewood's Church Of God: Prosecutors
SHOREWOOD —Erik Eck, a Lisle man who turns 39 in October, learned on Thursday afternoon that he is being freed from Will County’s Jail despite having five previous residential burglary convictions and another felony arrest on Tuesday morning following a burglary at the Church of God in Shorewood.
Will County Judge Donald DeWilkins ruled against the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office of Jim Glasgow during Thursday’s pretrial detention hearing. Eck’s latest charges here in Will County including two counts of burglary for breaking into a gray Kia SUV and a white Jaguar SUV, attempted burglary, and possession of burglary tools.
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As part of their petition seeking to deny pretrial release, prosecutors noted that Eck has five prior residential burglary convictions and at least 11 felony convictions, and “he has never successfully completed a period of any form of probation. His history of compliance with the criminal law is concerning as well.”
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According to the prosecutors, just before sunrise Tuesday morning, the Shorewood Police Department was called to Shorewood’s Church of God on School Road because a church worker saw a suspicious person on two different Ring cameras near the church’s entry doors. An officer responding to the call spotted the suspect’s getaway vehicle, a Jeep Grand Cherokee, driving with his headlights off, officials said.
A second officer pulled the Jeep over in the Burger King drive-thru lane. Eck, the driver, told the officers he was coming from his girlfriend’s on Milly Lane in Shorewood, a street that does not exist, prosecutors said.
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When questioned why he was on School Street, Eck told officers he was a Teamster and was there or an “off the books side job,” the court records show. Meanwhile, police learned from the Church of God employee that the suspicious person on the Ring cameras wore a mask and gloves.
Eck told the officers he looked into the church to see if someone named Jaime was there and that he routinely wore a mask for work, prosecutors added.
The church employee told the police that no repair or remodeling work was scheduled. Shorewood police recovered a flashlight from Eck’s pants pocket and inside his Jeep was a black skull cap, several sets of gloves, bolt cutters, channel locks and more flashlights, court records indicate.
Shorewood police also recovered items that were stolen from two different vehicles, prosecutors said.
“Back at the station, the defendant admitted committing the two motor vehicle burglaries which police knew had happened. Defendant maintained that his intentions respecting the more serious matter, burglary to a house of worship, were benign,” prosecutors advised the judge.
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