Prosecutors say a suspect stole approximately $10,000 worth of jewelry during a burglary at a home in Round Lake while the resident was out of town and sold it at a pawn shop.
The Round Lake Police Department responded around 4:11 p.m. on November 11 to the 30 block of North Waterford Drive in Round Lake for a report of a residential burglary.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Kailey Hopkins said officers spoke with the female victim who lives alone at the residence and had recently been out of town.
She returned home and observed that multiple jewelry box drawers had been removed and jewelry was missing.
Officers observed that two drawers in the master bedroom had been removed from the dresser and their contents were dumped and placed in a clothes hamper, Hopkins said.
There was also a box on the floor that had jewelry removed. Several bracelets were removed from a bracelet stand and the victim noticed that mainly rings, earrings and bracelets were stolen.
Hopkins said the total value of the items stolen was approximately $10,000. The jewelry boxes were processed for fingerprints.
A laboratory report from the Illinois State Police Forensic Division was received in late December.
The fingerprint lifted from the mirrored edge of the jewelry tray came back as a match to 37-year-old Jose Maestre-Avila, Hopkins said.
Investigators learned Maestre-Avila went to a jewelry and pawn shop on November 12 where he sold multiple gold rings with colored stones.
A photo of the sold items at the pawn shop was obtained and the victim identified five of the rings as belonging to her that were stolen in the burglary, Hopkins said.
Maestre-Avila was charged in February with residential burglary, a Class 1 felony, and theft over $500, a Class 3 felony, and an arrest warrant was issued for him.
He was taken into custody of the Lake County Jail last month and the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain him pending trial, which was granted following a detention hearing.
“Given the defendant’s actions in the instant offense, the defendant’s pre-trial release would pose a real and present threat to the safety of the victim. This defendant went into a residential home and stole from [the victim] who lives alone,” Hopkins said.
Maestre-Avila is appealing his detention ruling, court records show. He is scheduled to appear in court again on October 8 for a case management conference.