CHICAGO — Prosecutors say a parolee committed four burglaries in two days while armed with a pistol that he pulled out on two of his victims. Chicago police arrested Martell Brown, 34, in Logan Square on Thursday morning, but he’s also accused of committing burglaries in Roscoe Village and Lakeview.
Brown’s spree began around 11 a.m. Wednesday when he stole an iPhone from an employee’s desk at an auto repair shop in the 2400 block of North Pulaski, prosecutors Alexander Konetzki said during Brown’s bail hearing on Saturday.
That night, he allegedly burglarized garages in Lakeview and Roscoe Village.
At about 10 p.m., a man saw Brown sitting in the passenger seat of his girlfriend’s car in the 1900 block of West Wellington, Konetzki said. Brown got out of the car and displayed a gun as the man stood nearby with his child.
Shortly before midnight, a woman found her garage door pried open in the 1700 block of West Henderson. Her electric bike and other items were gone. But the burglar left a backpack behind containing items stolen from different people. Konetzki said Brown had the woman’s bike and other property when police arrested him later.
Finally, around 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, a landlord allegedly saw Brown enter a home in the 2400 block of North Lawndale. He ordered Brown to leave, but Brown pulled out a gun and began loading it with ammunition, said Konetzki. As the landlord called 911, Brown ran to the home’s third floor.
Chicago police arrested Brown as he walked out of the building. He didn’t have a gun when they stopped him, Konetzki said, but they did find one on the third floor.
Illinois Department of Corrections records show Brown was paroled on March 31 after serving just under two years for a pair of narcotics charges. He was convicted of burglary in 2018, narcotics in 2015, and possessing stolen motor vehicles in 2008 and 2010, according to IDOC.
The state will review his parole status in light of the new allegations. He is charged with burglary and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon.
If the state does not revoke his parole, he’ll need to pay a $2,000 bail deposit to go home on an ankle monitor, said Judge Barbara Dawkins.