Man Sees Stolen Items At Home Of Neighbor Suspected In Burglaries

ROUND LAKE, IL — The Lake County Sheriff's office said deputies were called to a home in the 35300 block of North Nielsen Drive in unincorporated Round Lake at 12:45 p.m. Wednesday for a report involving recovered stolen property. While sheriff's deputies were at the home, sheriff's office dispatchers received information from 911 callers regarding a suspect who had the stolen property who was being held by good Samaritans, according to a news release from the sheriff's office.

Further investigation determined that a Gurnee man saw tools he was interested in buying off Facebook Marketplace, according to the sheriff's office. The person he was communicating with, Michael J. Schuerr, 39, of the 35300 block of North Nielsen Drive in unincorporated Round Lake, was the seller of the tools, and gave the Gurnee man his home address to buy the items, according to the news release.

The Gurnee man arrived to the area, but couldn’t immediately locate Schuerr’s address. He then asked one of Schuerr’s neighbors who was outside if he knew where Schuerr lived, informing the neighbor he was there to buy tools from Schuerr, according to the news release.

The neighbor, who was the victim of a recent burglary during which tools were stolen, decided he would walk the Gurnee man to Schuerr’s house, the sheriff's office said. When the two arrived, Schuerr opened his garage door and the neighbor saw his toolbox and the tools involved in the recent burglary, according to the news release.

The neighbor confronted Schuerr, who immediately closed his garage door and ran from the home. The neighbor, along with another good Samaritan, followed Schuerr and eventually detained him until sheriff’s deputies arrived, according to the news release.

Sheriff’s detectives obtained a search warrant for Schuerr’s home and continued investigating due to Schuerr being the suspect in other area burglaries, the sheriff's office said. While conducting the search warrant, detectives recovered property stolen from other area residents.

The Lake County State’s Attorney’s office approved the following charges for Schuerr:

• Two counts of felony burglary
• Three counts of felony theft

According to the news release, Schuerr also had an active failure to appear arrest warrant for accusations of unlawful possession of hypodermic needles.

The sheriff's office added that additional charges are possible.

Schuerr is being held at the Lake County Jail on $35,000 bail, and his next court date is scheduled for Feb. 13.