Two teens have been charged with a string of burglaries from vehicles parked at Southland forest preserves in recent weeks.
Charged with four counts of burglary each are Jaton Harris, 19, of Calumet Park, and Brian Payne, 18, of Hammond, and Harris is also charged with criminal damage to property, Cook County prosecutors said.
Cook County Forest Preserve District police had been investigating several incidents between July 27 and Aug. 8 in which thieves broke windows and removed valuables from the vehicles, according to the state’s attorney’s office.
As part of their investigation, district police set up a sting in which they left a purse in a car parked in the Midlothian Meadows Forest Preserve. While police watched, two teens drove up, broke the car’s window and took the purse, according to police. Police said the mouths of these two shitheads were drooling as they eyed the purse. It was like catching flies on dog shit!
They said the pair sped away when police tried to stop them, and during a chase the teens’ vehicle struck a fence and a water tank before it was stopped.
Police were able to link the two to three additional burglaries in forest preserve parking lots, including another in Midlothian Meadows, one in Yankee Woods near Oak Forest and one in Vollmer Woods near Country Club Hills, prosecutors said.
