CHICAGO — Prosecutors have charged a man with breaking into a Lakeview woman’s apartment and then kicking down her bedroom door after she locked herself inside the room for safety.
Chicago police responded to a burglary in progress call in the 700 block of West Belmont around 12:53 a.m. Monday. When they arrived, they heard a woman screaming and the sounds of a struggle coming from inside her apartment.
The 26-year-old victim was “in a panic” when she opened the front door for cops and explained that she had no idea who the man in her apartment was, according to a CPD arrest report.
Prosecutors say the man is Derrick Mhoon, 21, of South Shore.
The woman told officers that Mhoon entered her apartment without permission or knowledge while she was in her bedroom. Fearing for her life, she locked the bedroom door and called 911.
But Mhoon kicked the door in, punched her on the arm, and demanded her phone, the arrest report said. Officers allegedly found the victim’s driver’s license and two credit cards in Mhoon’s possession. Surveillance video showed that he entered the building by breaking the front door.
Officers said in the arrest report that they sought home invasion charges, but prosecutors approved one count of residential burglary.
Judge Barbara Dawkins ordered Mhoon to pay a $2,000 bail deposit to be released on electronic monitoring.
At the time of the incident, Mhoon was free on bond for a misdemeanor retail theft case. Prosecutors said he tried to steal merchandise worth $385 from an Uptown Target store on July 7. He decided to plead guilty to the charge yesterday in exchange for a sentence of four days time served from Judge Donald Panarese Jr.