Crime & Safety
Burr Ridge Burglary Suspect in Court Today
A man charged with burglarizing a home on Old Mill Lane in Burr Ridge last fall is scheduled to appear in Cook County Court today.
A man charged with is scheduled to appear in court today.
Claude L. White, 46, of 1741 W. 80th Street in Chicago has been held in Cook County Jail on $200,000 bail since his arrest on Sept. 21. On that day, he is suspected of having burglarized a home on Old Mill Lane.
responded to a burglar alarm on Old Mill Lane on Sept. 21 and discovered the rear patio door to the home had been pried open.
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"A very short time after [we arrived,] the homeowners actually came home, and we learned pretty quickly from them what was missing from the home," Burr Ridge Deputy Police Chief Tim Vaclav told Patch in September.
At the same time, Indian Head Park Police received a suspicious person call on Indian Woods Drive in their town. Police arrived on the scene, and saw two people in a black 2003 Chevy Trailblazer.
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When they tried to stop the SUV, it attempted to flee and backed into a parked car. The driver got out and ran from the scene, but White was arrested after Burr Ridge Police came to assist Indian Head Park Police and saw items in the Trailblazer that matched the description of items stolen from the home on Old Mill Lane.
White was charged with one count of residential burglary and cooperated with police to identify Samuel A. Watson, 33, of 1741 W. 80th Street as the driver of the Trailblazer that night. According to The Doings, White and Watson googled "expensive homes along highways" to find and target the eight homes they burglarized in Indian Head Park and the one on Old Mill Lane.
Watson has been charged with one count of residential burglary in connection with a burglary in Indian Head Park. Although he has been identified as a person of interest in the Old Mill Lane burglary, no charges have been filed against him yet related to that case. Watson has been held in Cook County Jail on $150,000 bail since his arrest on Sept. 23, 2011.
Deputy Police Chief Tim Vaclav told Patch in September that they are looking at both Watson and White as persons of interest in several other burglaries that took place on Old Mill Lane last fall, but so far, no additional charges have been made in connection with the other burglaries.
Watson is scheduled to appear in court on June 20.
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