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Crime & Safety

Chicago Man Charged with Break-ins at Three Oak Park Churches

Police say finding food, money and items to sell motivated the incidents.

A 28-year-old Chicago man has been charged with six counts of felony burglary in connection with a string of church break-ins in Oak Park that date back to mid-November, police said Friday.

Ahmad Rashad Buckley, of the 1400 block of Mason Street, stands accused of committing two of the three recent burglaries at , one at and three at , the last of which led to his arrest on Dec. 27, said Oak Park Police Det. Sgt. Michael Richardson.

In questioning Buckley, police learned that he chose churches to break into because he felt comfortable there and was reasonably certain he could find food, cash and items that he could sell, Richardson added.

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  • At 4:15 a.m. on Nov. 19, police responded to a break-in at Judson Baptist Church, 1252 N. Austin Blvd. A window air-conditioning unit had been removed from a southeast corner window, setting off a motion alarm and scaring off Buckley, Richardson said. Nothing was taken.
  • Sometime between 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 11 and 2:30 p.m. Nov. 12, Buckley forced open the locked outer office and took a computer monitor, a printer, mixer board and wireless microphone from Austin Boulevard Christian Church, 634 N. Austin Blvd., police said. Estimated loss was $1,900.
  • In the early morning hours of Nov. 20, Police said Buckley returned to Austin Boulevard and stole food from the dining room and the refrigerator. Entry was gained by forcing a window air conditioner into the building, allowing enough room for him to enter. The refrigerator door was partially opened when church officials reported the incident to police at 8:20 a.m.
  • Between 10 p.m. Dec. 18 and 1 p.m. Dec. 19 Buckley removed two rear basement window screens at St. Gregorios, 1125 N. Humphrey Ave., and stole $1,500 from the collection box in the pastor’s closet, police said. A video projector, sound mixer and a keyboard had been moved outside but were not taken off site. Police speculated he would have come back for them.
  • Between 11:15 p.m. Christmas Eve and 6:30 a.m. Christmas Day, Buckley came back to St. Gregorios, broke a ground level window with a brick and went to the pastor’s closet in hopes of finding more cash in the wooden collection box, police said. There was none.
  • In the evening of Dec. 27, Buckley broke a window in the basement center courtyard area and entered the church. Around 10:43 p.m., the pastor spotted lights in the church that were not supposed to be on and called police. During the search police found Buckley hiding in the dropped ceiling in the basement utility room. Police said he had removed a tile and crawled in, hoping to avoid capture.

Nothing has been recovered. Buckley told police he stashed the equipment from Austin Boulevard in an alley to sell later on, but it was stolen before he could do so, Richardson said.

A pattern had developed that warranted charging him with the six burglaries, Richardson said. “He broke in because he knew no one would be coming in at night and he could take his time,” he said.

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A number of other church burglaries that took place in 2011 remain unsolved. They include: the theft of audio equipment Nov. 10 from Austin Boulevard; the theft of electronic equipment on Oct. 9 from Light of Liberty Church of God, 2 Washington Blvd.; the theft of money from a vending machine on Aug. 29 from , 820 Ontario St.; and the theft of a laptop computer and a portable hard drive in January from , 808 S. East Ave. Investigations in those cases are continuing, Richardson said.   

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