Woman charged in tri-state burglary spree after Riverside break-ins

A Chicago woman was arrested Tuesday night after suburban detectives investigated a burglary crew that hit three states and sold the items via a smartphone app.

Police from west suburban Riverside arrested Izalis Morales, 19, about 10 p.m. Tuesday at the Winnebago County Jail near Rockford, Riverside police chief Tom Weitzel said. She was being held there on unrelated charges.

Riverside police said in a statement that Morales was facing felony charges for possession of a stolen 2013 Chevrolet Suburban and possession of stolen property between $500 and $10,000 in value.

She was accused of working with a male accomplice to commit six garage burglaries and a vehicle theft in an hour across Riverside the early morning of July 12, police said. They were also suspected of committing burglaries in other suburbs as well as Indiana and Wisconsin.

In the burglary ring, Morales was allegedly tasked with selling the items in person or on “Let Go,” a smartphone app for selling and buying used items, while the male committed the burglaries, police said.

Riverside police said he usually stole a car at the end of a spree to transport the items to Chicago. He was in the custody of the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office on unrelated burglary charges and will be interviewed by Riverside detectives later this week. He has not yet been charged in connection with the Riverside burglaries.

“This was a sophisticated burglary crew committing burglaries throughout the entire state of Illinois and my detectives recovered stolen property from Wisconsin and Indiana in the storage shed too,” Weitzel said.

Riverside police said they were aided by detectives from the northwest suburban South Barrington in discovering a storage unit in the 3300 block of West 47th Street on the Southwest Side. More than 250 stolen items from Riverside and South Barrington were recovered.

Weitzel said he anticipates forthcoming charges across several jurisdictions for both suspects. South Barrington police said Morales will face further felony charges.

Detectives from the two suburbs zeroed in on the site after poring through security camera footage from a Chicago CVS Pharmacy, police said. It showed Morales and the male suspect using stolen credit cards from a series of burglaries in Riverside last month.

Riverside police said detectives were still recovering items that were sold on Let Go.

Morales was being held at the Cook County Jail and her bail was set at $15,000, according to Cook County Sheriff’s Office records. Her next court date was scheduled for Wednesday.