Officials say a burglary crew targeting business owners burglarized a house in Mundelein where they completely ransacked the home and stole a large amount of cash.
The Mundelein Police Department responded on November 15 to a house on Hazelnut Crossing in Mundelein in the Hampton Reserve subdivision for a report of a residential burglary.
Officers spoke to the homeowner and found signs of forced entry to the rear door, Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Vukovich said in court last week.
The victim told officers she arrived home and found it had been completely ransacked.
There were items on the floor, furniture was broken and property was missing.
Vukovich said one of the residents of the home had left around noon and reported he had locked the home.
The homeowner told officers that she and her husband own several stores.
Large sums of cash and designer purses and jewelry were stolen during the burglary, Vukovich said.
Officers canvassed the area to attempt to locate witnesses and video surveillance footage.
A neighbor’s parked Tesla was in record mode at the time the suspects committed the burglary.
A silver Hyundai sedan was seen driving slowly around 2:07 p.m. and parked.
Vukovich said suspects could be seen running from the victim’s home while carrying duffel bags or backpacks.
The Hyundai drove away and fled the area. Officers entered the car into a database as being wanted.
The homeowners told police that friends of theirs had their home in Westchester burglarized the day prior, Vukovich said. The friends also own the same type of business as them.
The Hyundai involved in the Mundelein burglary was also linked to the Westchester burglary.
The Chicago Police Department located the vehicle on November 18 and it was towed to the Mundelein Police Department.
A search warrant was obtained and officers located a lockout kit, a lockout key and a large screwdriver.
The owner of the Hyundai went to the police department and was interviewed.
Vukovich said the owner confirmed the vehicle belonged to him but one of his co-workers, Miguel Garzon-Altamar, 31, of Chicago, asked to borrow the vehicle in September due to a family emergency.
The Hyundai owner used Garzon-Altamar’s vehicle while Garzon-Altamar used the Hyundai until late in the day on November 15, Vukovich said.
Garzon-Altamar did not show up to work on November 15. The Hyundai owner showed officers text messages exchanged with Garzon-Altamar.
The Hyundai owner began to cry when he learned from officers that his car was used in residential burglaries, Vukovich said. He consented to DNA and fingerprint analysis and officers obtained a search warrant for his phone.
An analysis of the phone showed the Hyundai owner was nowhere near either burglaries on November 14 and 15, Vukovich said.
Detectives interviewed Garzon-Altamar who admitted to being the getaway driver in the burglaries after borrowing the car from his co-worker.
Garzon-Altamar said he met a man named “Paco” in Arizona while immigrating to the area through Arizona, Vukovich said.
Paco asked Garzon-Altamar to provide him with a car in exchange for money, Vukovich said.
Garzon-Altamar said he drove a group of people, waited for them to commit the burglaries and was paid for his participation.
An arrest warrant charging Garzon-Altamar with one count of residential burglary, a Class 1 felony, was obtained on January 16.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain Garzon-Altamar pending trial.
Vukovich said the man poses a danger to the community as it is unknown who the burglary crew could target next.
A public defender for Garzon-Altamar said his client was not the getaway driver and did not participate in the burglaries but only obtained the car that was used.
Lake County Judge Michael Nerheim granted the petition and remanded Garzon-Altamar to the Lake County Jail.
The judge noted a public safety report which said Garzon-Altamar was listed as an “alien immigrant without visa” following an encounter with federal authorities in 2022.
Garzon-Altamar is scheduled to appear in court again on February 26 for a preliminary hearing.