8 Years for Palatine Township, Arlington Heights Burglar

Jerry Dickens, 42, of Arlington Heights was sentenced to eight years behind bars and ordered to pay about $400 in fines after he pleaded guilty to a string of residential burglaries that took place in Palatine Township and Arlington Heights last year, the Daily Herald reports.

Dickens pleaded guilty to three class 1 felonies, two counts of residential burglary in Arlington Heights and one count of residential burglary from the Cook County Sheriff's Department.

As Patch first reported, Dickens was arrested in mid-November of 2011 in connection to several residential burglaries in Palatine Township and Arlington Heights, two months after Cook County Sheriff Detectives began investigating a possible burglary pattern in the area.

On Nov. 17, the sheriff's department was called to a residence in the 1900 block of Trail Ridge Road in Palatine Township. A back patio door was breached and money, small electronics, jewelry and laptops were taken. That same day, Arlington Heights officers were conducting extra patrols in the Terramere subdivision because of recent burglaries in the area when they noticed Dickens, who fit the description of the burglary suspect, dropping several pieces of jewelry as he attempted to walk away.

After Dickens was destained and questioned, officers searched Dickens' home and found items taken in burglaries. 

Dickens later admitted his involvement in several burglaries and identified locations throughout Arlington Heights and Palatine Township that had been his targets, police said.