13-Year-Old Alleged Woodstock Burglars Caught On Camera
(CBS) -- A pair of 13-year-olds are accused of being serial burglars and, it was caught on camera. The duo is accused of seven break-ins, all happening in the far northwest suburb of Woodstock.
CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports by the time the two teen vandals saw the surveillance camera, it was too late as the evidence that would lead to their arrest had been recorded.
"At first we thought they were going to be high school students, but they ended up being a 7th and 8th grader, both 13 years old," said Woodstock Police Chief Robert Lowen.
The two had become a terror in the Sonata, and Sweetwater subdivisions, allegedly staging seven break-ins into four different unoccupied homes, all still under construction.
The two kids allegedly hit one house four times. The homeowner had had enough.
"That's what led me to put cameras in the house," said Scott Peterson.
Cameras recorded the two entering through the mud room raiding the refrigerator for chips, salsa, and tacos and later trying to destroy those security cams to do away with the evidence.
"They broke the cameras, but the feed was already saved," said Peterson.
Police say the two couldn't quite believe they'd been nabbed, their crime spree finally over.
"They were a bit surprised, but they knew it was coming eventually," said Chief Lowen.
When Peterson posted the pics on Facebook, neighbors quickly identified the teens as students at Woodstock's Northwood Middle School.
Each of the teens is charged with multiple counts of criminal damage to property, criminal trespass and theft, all misdemeanors.
