3 Arrested In Suburban Burglary Spree

Updated 10/01/12 - 5:48 p.m.

MT. PROSPECT, Ill. (CBS) -- Police in the northwest suburbs might have tracked down those responsible for more than 60 burglaries since January.

WBBM Newsradio's Terry Keshner reports Elk Grove Village residents Ryan Bloom, 22; Richard McCann, 34; and Lizette Norman, 34, have been charged in the burglaries. The suspects face three counts each of felony burglary. The two men are also facing drug charges.

Mount Prospect Police Deputy Chief Tim Janowick said the suspects looked for opportunities – such as unlocked cars – to steal laptop computers, power tools, GPS devices, vacuum cleaners, sporting goods and other items.

"There are opportunists out there, who – just being able to see a laptop sitting in the back seat of a car, seeing a GPS mounted to a windshield, other items that are left in plain view, cell phones, change, money – it makes it a very good opportunity for them to steal," he said.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's Terry Keshner Reports

The trio has been accused with of stealing from garages, homes and construction sites and selling the items to buy drugs.

"It was good old-fashioned police work; some backtracking of stolen property information, through pawn and resale shops eventually led us to the suspects," Janowick said.

CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez reports, on Monday morning, police also showed off hundreds of the stolen that have been recovered, but that was just the tip of the iceberg.

"This is just what we have recovered over the last five days or so," Janowick said.

It was all found in a home shared by the three suspects.

"When we went into the house found literally hundreds – if not close to a thousand –pieces of property stolen from all over the suburban area," Janowick said.

Detectives believe the suspects already sold many of the items they stole, like the power tools Robert Kron lost.

Only one of those tools has been recovered so far, "from a whole trailer full of power tools," Kron said.

He estimated about $7,500 worth of power tools was stolen.

Authorities said Kron is one of about 60 victims, so far.

Janowick said many communities were affected by the burglary spree.

"We had at least 20 other communities come out to interview the offenders while they were in our custody here. A number of communities were able to identify merchandise that we had recovered as belonging to investigations they were conducting," he said.

The three suspects were arrested last week, after a lengthy investigation, and were in court over the weekend. Bloom's bond was set at $80,000; McCann's was set at $5,000; and Norman's was set at $75,000, according to the Cook County Sheriff's office.

Police said they want to remind everyone to lock their doors. In about 60 percent of these burglaries, the victims' doors were unlocked.