A Chicago man charged with residential burglary and possession of a stolen motor vehicle stemming from a case in Morton Grove was back in court on March 28 where he pleaded guilty.
Police said he broke into the home of a Morton Grove family last summer and stole their BMW. He drove the vehicle through Iowa and led state police on a high-speed chase before he crashed the car and was arrested.
The Cook County Sheriff’s Office said Jonathan A. Cortes-Rodriguez, 28, of the 5800 block of North Jersey Avenue, has been in the custody of Cook County jail since Feb. 3, two days after he was extradited from Polk County, Iowa, where he had been held since July 29.
Police said a day before his arrest in Iowa, he allegedly entered a home on the 7500 block of Arcadia Street in Morton Grove and stole the keys to the family’s car, along with electronics and $500 in cash.
Cook County Judge Marcia Orr set bond at $145,000. His next court appearance is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on April 18 in room 206 at the Skokie courthouse.
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The night of the burglary, the homeowner told police he had fallen asleep on a couch in the basement at about 11 p.m. and woke up at 4 a.m. to find both the front and back doors of his home wide open.
Police said Cortes-Rodriguez entered the home of the family in the middle of the night as they slept, and he came across the keys to the BMW.
An Iowa State Patrol officer spotted the stolen silver 2005 BMW X3 sports utility vehicle after it was identified as matching the description of a stolen vehicle mentioned in an alert sent out by Morton Grove police the day before. A high-speed chase ensued near Des Moines, and Cortes-Rodriguez eventually crashed the SUV into a car auction lot and was taken to a nearby hospital.
Cortes-Rodriguez also pleaded guilty to local charges related to the car chase that had been filed against him in Iowa. He served a six-month jail sentence in Iowa before he was taken back to Illinois to face his other charges, according to a report from police.
He was released from the Dixon Correctional Center in downstate Illinois three days before the burglary. Niles police had interviewed him regarding a stolen vehicle investigation on July 27, the day before the Morton Grove burglary, but he was released without being arrested. Police said they later found out he had given a false name to the officer who interviewed him.
Natalie Hayes is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.