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| Patrick Newton (L) and the Loop suspect. | CPD |
We thought he looked familiar. Now we know why.
The man accused of breaking out dozens of car windows with rocks in Loop parking garages this week was charged earlier this year with breaking out car windows across the Rogers Park neighborhood.
Patrick Newton, 29, was arrested around 10:30 p.m. Thursday after a witness saw him throw a rock through a car window, police said. Officers realized that Newton was the same man seen in an alert that police issued earlier in the week about a series of similar crimes in nearby parking garages.
Prosecutors on Friday charged Newton with five felony and two misdemeanor counts of criminal damage to property. But police say dozens of vehicles were damaged altogether. A judge set bail at $20,000.
Back in mid-May, police issued a community alert after car windows were broken out with rocks on the Far North Side. Newton was eventually charged with eight counts of felony criminal damage to property in connection with those cases.
He later struck a plea deal in which prosecutors dropped seven of the felonies in exchange for a 30-day jail sentence. Judge Donald Panarese oversaw the case.
While Newton was free on a recognizance bond in that case, he went to west suburban Brookfield where police say he broke out 23 car windows in on June 13th and 14th.
Newton was turned over to Brookfield authorities a few days later after Chicago police found him breaking car windows in Hyde Park. He was charged with three counts of criminal damage in the suburban case. A judge this week ordered him held without bail on a violation of bail bond charge in that case.
