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| Ricardo Pasco (inset) was carrying $67 worth of quarters when he was arrested, cops say. | CPD |
Some people never change.
A 58-year-old career burglar who has been sentenced to a combined 51 years since 1987 is back in jail—accused of stealing coins from apartment complex laundry machines during forced-entry burglaries.
Ricardo Pasco of Humboldt Park has broken into a series of apartment buildings and then pried open laundry machine coin boxes to steal the quarters inside, police say. The break-ins were reported in Lincoln Square and along the Edgewater-Uptown border.
Police say a detective recognized Pasco from surveillance video of one of the break-ins. Last Wednesday, the cop and Pasco crossed paths in the 1100 block of West Balmoral and an arrest was made. During a protective search, burglary tools were found in Pasco’s backpack, a prybar was found in his waistband, and he had $67 worth of quarters in his jacket pocket, according to police.
Prosecutors say Pasco pried open the front door to apartment buildings and looted laundry room cash boxes in the 5200 block of North Sheridan; the 5400 block of North Winthrop; the 2400 block of West Balmoral; and the 5600 block of North Kenmore.
Pasco is charged with four felony counts of burglary. Judge Mary Marubio ordered him held in lieu of $10,000 bail.
Incredibly, Pasco has been sentenced to almost as many years in prison as he’s been alive. He’s been convicted of eight previous burglaries and was sentenced to three years in 1987; six years in 1989; three consecutive six-year terms in 1997; eight years in 2003; another eight years in 2006; and another eight years in 2011.
According to city data, the 2011 burglary was in the 6000 block of North Sheridan; the 2006 case involved an apartment burglary in Rogers Park; and the 2003 burglary was to a laundry machine in West Ridge. Details of the other break-ins were not immediately available.
