Christmas Eve Car Burglary In Skokie Lands Teen In Jail Over Holidays

SKOKIE, IL — An arrest over a Christmas Eve car break-in in Skokie has landed a man awaiting trial over having a stolen car in Cook County Jail through the first week of 2024.

Hussein Bekele, 18, faces a series of felony and misdemeanor charges that are not individually detainable on the basis of public safety — among them possession of a stolen vehicle, breaking into a car with the attempt to steal it, fleeing police and driving without a license.

But on Tuesday, a judge granted prosecutors' motion to sending him to jail for violating the mandatory terms of his pretrial release — namely, not picking up new charges while awaiting trial for earlier ones.

Bekele was first arrested Nov. 4 in the 6600 block of North Newgard Avenue in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood. He allegedly was in possession of a Kia that he knew was stolen.

Then, at 10 p.m. Sunday, officers were dispatched to the 9300 block of Ewing Avenue in Skokie for a report of a car burglary, where they found a Hyundai with a shattered rear window, according to police and prosecutors.

Its owner told police she heard her car alarm go off and spotted two figures out in front of her house, one of whom had his hands inside her car's broken window, authorities said.

About 45 minutes after the initial break-in, police got a call about two people matching the description of the suspects peering into car windows in the 9500 block of Keeler Avenue — about a mile to the east of the first incident.

Assistant State's Attorney Tristian Minx told the judge Bekele and his companion first ignored the officers' commands to stop.

"Upon stopping the individuals, [Bekele] had green latex gloves on his hands and was putting his hands in his pockets," Minx told.

Police ended up finding an approximately 6-inch knife and a screwdriver in Bekele's jacket, according to the prosecutor. He was also identified by the owner of the Hyundai as the person she spotted reaching into her car.

After giving up his constitutional right against self-incrimination, Bekele told Skokie police that he was "he was doing some 'dumb s---' and got caught tonight with the weapon that was recovered," and that "he was in a neighborhood he was not supposed to be," Minx said.

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Cook County Circuit Judge Lorraine Murphy noted that Bekele is entitled to pretrial release on the new case resulting from his arrest in Skokie, but she granted a motion from the state's attorney's office to revoke his pretrial release from his Chicago arrest.

"I find that the state has shown with the short amount of time picking up another class 2 felony while out on pretrial release on a previous class 2 felony with similar facts — in that the crime is with a vehicle that does not belong to you, sir," Murphy said.

The judge told Bekele that prosecutors had "proven by clear and convincing evidence that no condition, or combination of conditions, of release would reasonably prevent you from being charged with a subsequent felony or class A misdemeanor."

Bekele, who was dropped by the private attorney hired to represent him following his first arrest, is due back in court Jan. 8 on both charges.

The man arrested along with him in Skokie, Chito Chubaka, was also charged with a single class 2 felony charge of burglary.

Chubaka, 18, of Evanston, was released ahead of trial on the condition that he has no contact with the woman whose car he is accused of trying to steal, shows up to court and does not pick up an additional charge. He is due back in court Jan. 23 in Skokie.