NEWS RELEASE

RIVERSIDE POLICE DEPARTMENT 31 Riverside Road, Riverside, IL 60546

21 February 2014
Contact:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Chief Thomas Weitzel
tweitzel@riverside.il.us

708.447.2127

Follow RPD on Twitter @pdriverside

Riverside Police Arrest Burglary Suspect from 2013 Case

Police match shoe impression in snow and tool marks to make arrest On Wednesday, February 19, 2013 at 11:00 a.m., the Riverside Police took a burglary suspect into custody at his residence in Chicago. The original burglary had taken place on December 31, 2013 and was reported to police at 1:15 p.m. At the time of the incident, the home that was burglarized on the 3500 block of Harlem had the rear door kicked in by the offenders who used a pick hammer to damage the rear door window and bend the frame to gain entry to the home. Riverside Police officers and evidence technicians collected physical evidence at the scene including tool mark impressions and shoe impressions that were left in the fresh snow. Officers were able to cast and photograph the shoe impression for future use. Several weeks later, the shoe impression became a major piece of evidence. On January 15, 2014 at 10:50 a.m., Burbank Police responded to a residential burglary in progress on the 7700 block of S. Lotus Avenue in Burbank. When they arrived, they were able to arrest three offenders for a burglary that had just occurred in their town. Burbank Police notified area agencies that they had shoe impressions from their burglary. The Riverside detective then contacted Burbank detectives and worked directly with them to make a link between the shoe impressions. The shoe impressions that were left at the Riverside crime scene were an exact match to the shoe impressions that were lifted at the Burbank crime scene. In addition, a pick axe that was used in the Riverside case was in possession of one of the individuals in the Burbank case.

Over the last month, Riverside officers worked with Burbank investigators to link one of the subjects to the Riverside burglary. On Wednesday February 19, 2014, Riverside police took one offender into custody at his residence. This offender was already on electric monitoring for the Burbank arrest and was home at the time Riverside Police went to his residence to take him into custody. Once back at the police station the defendant gave a full confession to committing the burglary on the 3500 block of Harlem. He has also linked additional suspects which Riverside Police are actively out searching for at this time. Charged with one count of felony residential burglary is Julio S. Guzman, 18 of the 2500 block of South Keeler in Chicago. Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel stated, Riverside Detective Sergeant Frank Lara and several other officers worked on this case for the last two months after learning that our shoe impressions matched the impressions that the Burbank Police Department had recovered from their crime scene. I am extremely proud of the intense follow-up work done by my personnel and the assistance given to my agency by the Burbank Police Department. This case was solved due to collection of evidence at the scene and thorough follow-up investigation. While there was a great deal of property stolen from this burglary, the defendant has made a statement that all the property had been sold on the street to support a drug habit and the likelihood of recovering property at this time is slim. The defendant is a self-admitted 26 Street Gang member. ###