Officer on residential patrol spots two suspicious subjects committing car burglaries.
Early Monday morning, February 26, 2018 at 2:48 a.m. a Riverside officer on residential patrol saw two subjects walking in the area of Uvedale Road near Southcote Road. Both subjects were carrying back packs and were dressed in black. When the officer made contact with both subjects they ran but were quickly apprehended by the officer.
When questioned they said they were coming from a house in Riverside and had been visiting with a friend and got lost (this story was false). Neither had identification. When the officer asked to search their backpack, he discovered items consistent with burglaries to motor vehicles. This included GPS equipment, tollway change, personal items, and an iPhone. When the officers turned on the GPS it listed to a home in the area where the individuals were stopped and when they followed up with that homeowner they found the GPS had been stolen from inside a vehicle parked in the driveway on the 300 block of Southcote Road. Both offenders were taken into custody for further investigation at this time.
When the individuals were placed in the back of the squad car the officer turned the camera head around and activated the in-car camera system. He told the individuals they were being recorded. Both subjects then began to talk making incriminating statements (while on video and audio) in the back of the fully marked Riverside Police car.
At the police station the two were given their rights and agreed to give full confessions and written statements. The car burglaries took place on Southcote, Selborne and Uvedale Roads.
Riverside Police continued to get burglary to motor vehicle calls throughout Monday morning and by the end of the day had five burglaries to motor vehicle reported - all attributed to the suspects in custody.
Every car that was broken into was unlocked and no force was used.
Charged with four counts of felony burglary (four charges per offender) to motor vehicle were Jose E. Belmonte, 20, of the 1600 block of South 60th Court in Cicero and Omar J. Colin, 19, of the 1100 block of South 57th Avenue in Cicero.
All stolen property from the cars was recovered and returned to owners as part of the overall investigation.
Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel said that both offenders were apprehended at 2:48 a.m. in a residential neighborhood by an officer on routine residential patrol.
In this case the individuals would break into unlocked cars so they would not bring attention to themselves by breaking windows. Both offenders stated that they ultimately were going to call a friend or an Uber to pick them up when they were done burglarizing cars in Riverside so they could get home to Cicero. Both offenders had Uber apps on their phones.
The public is reminded that a signed complaint is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants
in a criminal case are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.