3 family members charged after ruse burglary

An Arlington Heights man is facing burglary charges and his Mount Prospect parents are charged with a car theft after an investigation into a ruse burglary in Leyden Township south of Rosemont.

Investigators said the case began shortly after noon Nov. 23, when a man claiming to be a construction worker fixing a fence lured a 76-year-old woman into her backyard while accomplices stole cash and jewelry from her home. The victim told police the man abruptly left in a white, four-door sedan while she was still in the backyard. Eventually she discovered items were missing.

More than a month later, Cook County sheriff's investigators arrested 29-year-old Walter Reed at his Arlington Heights home, according to a news release from Sheriff Tom Dart's office.

Following Reed's bond hearing a day after his Jan. 4 arrest, detectives noticed a white, four-door 2012 Nissan Altima in the courthouse parking lot with "mismatched registration." A quick check determined the car had been stolen from Massachusetts, and its occupants - Michael J. Johnson, 50, and Apple Reed, 47, both of Mount Prospect - were charged with criminal trespass to a vehicle, authorities said. The pair were identified as Walter Reed's parents, and the woman who had been burglarized identified the car as the one that fled her residence Nov. 23.

Reed's next court date is scheduled for Tuesday. His parents are charged with misdemeanors. The status of their case is unknown.