Four men and a juvenile broke into a Riverwalk restaurant and had a private party at the bar early Sunday, according to prosecutors. Now the group is facing felony burglary charges.
Assistant State’s Attorney Sergio Gomez said the teenagers climbed over a railing and entered through a restaurant window at 180 North Wacker Drive around 2:20 a.m. Officials did not identify the restaurant by name.
They all went behind the bar and began drinking and collecting bottles of booze, he said. But the restaurant’s security contractor was monitoring a camera feed from the business and notified ownership, who then called police, Gomez said.
Meanwhile, the party allegedly continued as some of the revelers began loading the restaurant’s alcohol into crates.
According to Gomez, the surveillance video showed Jesus Silva, 18, breaking plants and throwing them into the Chicago River. CPD officers arrested Leo Vail, 18, and Nicholas Oswald, 19, inside the restaurant, Gomez said. Silva, the juvenile, and Ayers Evans, 18, were arrested as they loaded alcohol into a nearby vehicle, according to Gomez. All of their faces are clearly visible in restaurant surveillance footage, he said.
According to their defense attorneys, none of the men have criminal backgrounds, and all but Evans are attending college. Each is charged with felony burglary.
Judge Maryam Ahmad released all four on their own recognizance.
In June, police issued a community alert to warn about burglars who were crawling down the side of a Chicago River bridge structure on the 100 block of North Wacker Drive during overnight hours to burglarize a riverside restaurant via its scenic waterfront patio entrance.
On two occasions, male and female burglars eased their way down the side of one of the city’s famed bascule bridges and jumped onto the restaurant’s riverfront patio, police said. From there, the prowlers entered the eatery and took unspecified property.
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