Man charged with burglarizing Loyola students’ apartments, neighbor’s garage
A Repeat Burglar Faces New Charges for Targeting Loyola University Students and Residents
A convicted burglar is facing new charges for allegedly burglarizing Loyola University students’ apartments and another resident’s garage, incidents that saw him arrested three times before a judge finally detained him.
The trouble began on January 29, when a 21-year-old Loyola student came home to find his Bluetooth speaker missing from the bathroom of his apartment in the 6400 block of North Magnolia Avenue. Surveillance video later showed someone walking through the alley behind the building carrying a speaker, and the student identified it as his property, but he could not identify the person who had it, according to court filings.
About two weeks later, a 62-year-old man living in the 6400 block of North Greenview Avenue reported that he had video of someone entering his detached garage on February 9, taking tools and loading them into a garbage can before walking off with it.
On February 15, shortly before midnight, the situation escalated. The second victim called 911 and reported that the same man had entered his home. When officers arrived, they found the victim had the intruder pinned to the ground, officials said. That man was 48-year-old Christopher Johnson. Despite the confrontation and the victim’s identification of Johnson as the burglar from February 9, police only charged Johnson with trespassing. They released him from the police station hours later.
Six days later, Loyola University police responded to a burglary in the 1200 block of West Arthur Avenue, where students reported an Apple Watch and two Apple MacBooks had been stolen, according to prosecutors.
A Loyola officer followed location data and found Johnson about two blocks away with the watch and computers, prosecutors said. But he was only charged with one count of misdemeanor theft, and he was released again.
Once he was back on the streets, the Loyola officer who arrested him realized that Johnson was the same man seen walking in the alley with the student’s Bluetooth speaker on January 29, according to prosecutors. Johnson is now charged with that crime.
Prosecutors are also now charging him with burglarizing the 62-year-old man’s garage on February 9. Judge James Costello detained him pending trial on both burglary charges. The misdemeanor theft case involving the Loyola students is still pending.
Court records show that he received a five-year sentence in 2023 for burglarizing an apartment in the 6200 block of North Wayne Avenue.
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