Chicago Man Charged Midlothian Burglaries

Police have charged a Chicago man with two recent car burglaries in south suburban Midlothian and say more charges in connection with several others could be coming.

Terrance T. Porter, 23, of Chicago, was charged with two counts of car burglary and one count of residential burglary and was due in court Friday for a bond hearing.

Midlothian police say the charges may provide an answer to a string of car burglaries in the village in the past several weeks.

Police said Porter was arrested Wednesday after a car burglary in the 14700 block of Kilpatrick Avenue. The recovery of a cell phone and ensuing investigation led to charges against him for another car and home burglary Sept. 17 in the same area, police said.

Midlothian police Sgt. Steve Zamiar said that during one of the car burglaries, Porter found house keys in the car and let himself inside.

The recovery of the cell phone at one of the burglary sites may lead to charges in as many as six other car burglaries, Zamiar said.

"There may be a network of people who do this," Zamiar said. "They look for laptops, iPods, cameras and phones."

Zamiar said sometimes car burglars will just go from car to car in a neighborhood, checking door handles to see if they are locked.

If the door's locked but they see something of value left in the car, burglars will break in, he said.

Often, burglars will use a spark plug to break a car window. He said they will throw the plug at the window because the porcelain does not make a large sound when it breaks the glass.

Zamiar said people can avoid making themselves targets simply by removing valuables from their cars and locking the doors.