Chicago — The man accused of burglarizing a Lincoln Park church at Christmastime was back in Chicago bond court on Wednesday to face allegations of burglarizing two more churches.
Prosecutors said Hannibal Kerry, 28, has been in Cook County jail since January 19 because he cannot afford the $1,000 bail deposit required to get out. Chicago police arrested him at the jail on Tuesday after linking him to the newly-charged crimes.
In one case, Kerry was allegedly caught on video as he broke through a kindergarten classroom window to enter St. James Lutheran School, 2101 North Fremont, in Lincoln Park, around 3:20 p.m. on January 8.
Surveillance footage showed him walking around the school and stealing a check and $80 in cash from the principal’s office, prosecutor Sarah Dale-Schmidt said. He then entered the church and eventually exited the front door.
Around 7:35 p.m. on January 13, Kerry allegedly pried his way into St. Paul Coptic Orthodox Church, 2500 North Talman, in Logan Square. Surveillance video showed him walking around the church and tampering with the alarm panels, Dale-Schmidt said.
Judge Charles Beach agreed to impose a recognizance bond with electronic monitoring on the new allegations, noting that Kerry will remain jailed since he cannot afford the bail amount set in the earlier cases.
In the previously charged matters, Kerry is accused of breaking into Chicago International Charter School, 2235 North Hamilton, at 2:30 a.m. on December 26. He allegedly spent over an hour inside the school, where employees later found pry marks on a safe. But the safe was not compromised, Dale-Schmidt said.
That evening, Kerry was again caught on video as he broke into St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, 1010 West Webster. Church workers later found pry marks on a door and a donation box. The church safe, which an employee said may have been left unlocked, was emptied of about $10,000 cash and checks that the church received during Christmas services, Dale-Schmidt said.
Police arrested Kerry after a St. Vincent de Paul employee saw him in the neighborhood on January 18.
Cops said he was carrying a backpack that contained four credit cards in the names of different people and four deposit receipts for 25 checks dated Christmas and Christmas Eve that had been made out to St. Vincent de Paul. A church worker provided police with two checks endorsed by Kerry that the parish had received.
All totaled, Kerry faces four felony counts of burglary of a school or place of worship.
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