A 10-time convicted felon who’s on parole for burglary is charged with burglarizing two Lincoln Park apartment buildings this week — while he was on a recognizance bond for burglarizing yet another Lincoln Park building in May.
Maurice Kirby, 57, is now charged with two new felony burglary charges and a new felony theft charge.
A witness saw Kirby on their front porch near Sedgwick and Webster on Thursday and followed him down the street because he was acting suspiciously, Assistant State’s Attorney James Konstantopoulos said.
The witness watched as Kirby went on several porches and then saw him enter a building on the 400 block of Webster. Kirby walked out with a black garment bag that he stuffed into a piece of luggage, Konstantopoulos said.
Police who responded to the witnesses’ 911 call stopped Kirby nearby and allegedly recovered the garment bag and multiple packages that were addressed to a building on the 2000 block of North Sedgwick.
The garment bag contained three dresses that a woman ordered from a consignment shop, Konstantopoulos said. Video from the Sedgwick building shows Kirby using gardening shears to force open an interior door and then taking two packages, which were found in his suitcase, according to prosecutors.
Kirby was released from prison on November 27 after serving half of an eight-year sentence he received for residential burglary in 2015, according to state records.
In May, prosecutors charged him with felony burglary after he allegedly broke into a residential complex on the 1800 block of North Lincoln Park West and stole items from the mailroom. Judge David Navarro released Kirby on his own recognizance the next day.
During a bond court hearing on Friday, Judge Susana Ortiz ordered Kirby held without bail for violating the terms of his bond in the May case. Once that matter is resolved, he will need to post a $2,000 deposit bond and go onto electronic monitoring if he wants to get out of jail to await trial on the latest charges, Ortiz said.
Before the burglary case that he’s on parole for, Kirby went to prison:
- for one year in 2009 for retail theft
- for 25 months in 2008 for retail theft
- for six years in 2004 for attempt residential burglary
- for four years in 1999 for retail theft
- for 42 months in 1997 for retail theft
- for two years in 1994 for bringing cannabis into a penal institution
- for five years in 1994 for robbery
- for three years in 1993 for attempted robbery
- for three years in 1989 for robbery
- for three years in 1989 for forgery