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Man Charged With Breaking Into Mount Prospect House While Teen Was Home Alone

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 55-year-old man has been charged with breaking into a house in northwest suburban Mount Prospect while a 16-year-old girl was home alone last week.

Mount Prospect police said Scott Weissert, of Arlington Heights, has been charged with one count of residential burglary.

Scott Weissert
Scott Weissert (Source: Mount Prospect Police)

The break-in happened around noon on July 23, at a home on the 300 block of North William Street.

Security camera video shows the moment a man kicked in the front door of Bonnie Bridges' home, while her 16-year-old daughter was home alone.

Bridges was only eight minutes away when it happened, watching the home invasion unfold on a home security app, after her daughter had called her to say she could see and hear someone trying to break in.

"My heart dropped. My body started shaking," she said. "Trying not to blow red lights. Trying to maintain my composure while I'm calling 911."

The girl was home alone at the time, and said the man already had knocked on the door several times, and peered in the windows, before breaking into their house.

After kicking in the door, the man walked upstairs to the very room the girl had locked herself in to hide.

"He decided to kick the door in that she was hiding behind. She screamed bloody murder at the top of her lungs," Bridges said.

When the girl screamed, the crook immediately ran back downstairs and out the front door.

Police said Weissert was arrested at his home Tuesday, after receiving several tips based on the security video of the break-in.

Weissert appeared before a Cook County judge at the Rolling Meadows Courthouse on Wednesday, and his bond was set at $200,000, police said. He was due back in court on Aug. 24.

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