A serial burglar is facing eight counts of burglary after being arrested early Wednesday morning after Waukegan police tracked his footprints in the snow.
Waukegan police officers and detectives responded at 12:15 a.m. to a burglar alarm at the Waukegan Food Mart in the 2800 block of Sunset Avenue.
Police arrived and found that the business had been broken into and also found fresh footprints in the snow, authorities said. The tracks led to a home in the 2900 block of Navajo Road, where the suspect was found hiding behind a home. The suspect was then taken into custody without incident.
Thomas O. Anderson, 58 years old, of unincorporated Lake County, has been charged with eight counts of burglary and is currently being held in the Lake County Jail on a $200,000 bond. He was also charged with criminal damage to property for breaking a glass door at the Cardinal Liquor store in the 1800 block of Delany Road in Gurnee on December 16.
The CID [Criminal Investigations Division] has been working a rash of burglaries to businesses since early January,” the Waukegan Police Department said on Wednesday. Anderson was charged with burglarizing the following businesses:
- Shell Station in the 3400 block of Delany Road, Waukegan on January 4
- Big Daddy Liquor Store in the 2800 block of Grand Avenue, Waukegan on January 10
- Waukegan Food Mart in the 2800 block of Sunset Avenue, Waukegan on January 20
- NAPA Auto Zone in the 3100 block of Grand Avenue, Waukegan on January 22
- NAPA Auto Zone in the 3100 block of Grand Avenue, Waukegan on January 25
- Burris Equipment business in the 2200 block of N. Green Bay Rd, Waukegan on January 26
- Tobacco Shop in the 400 block of N. Green Bay Rd, Waukegan on January 31
- Waukegan Food Mart in the 2800 block of Sunset Avenue, Waukegan on February 7
Police said that all of the burglaries took place between 10:40 p.m. and 4:40 a.m. Anderson will appear in court again on March 7.