A serial burglar with a rapidly growing criminal résumé has received a 10-year sentence for a string of residential break-ins on the North Side.
James Myers, 31, pleaded guilty to four counts of residential burglary in exchange for the sentence from Judge Charles Burns. Prosecutors dropped charges in two other burglaries. Burns ordered the four 10-year terms to run concurrently, according to court records.
Myers stole jewelry and other valuables, getting away with property worth about $90,000 from one Lakeview family’s home alone, and then pawned the items at shops in the city and suburbs for a fraction of their true value, officials said.
Last August, prosecutors charged him with punching a 38-year-old Lakeview woman in the face after she caught him burglarizing her home in the 600 block of West Grace. According to court filings, he took the woman’s Coach wallet, $4,000 cash, a professional camera, perfume, and an Apple Watch.
Detectives subsequently linked him to five more home break-ins.
A woman living in the 5200 block of North Magnolia in Edgewater reported that she left her door unlocked while she walked her dogs and returned to find Myers in the kitchen. After he bolted out the back door, she discovered that necklaces and earrings worth $8,000 were missing from her jewelry box, according to court filings.
She warned neighbors about the break-in on NextDoor and learned that one of her neighbors had a video of a burglar who tried to break into his home that same day. That footage eventually led police to Myers.
On June 7, 2024, a 20-year-old Lincoln Park man reported that a burglar entered his family’s home in the 500 block of West Grant by crawling through an open window. Myers allegedly got away with Fender and Rickenbacker guitars and a virtual reality headset and then pawned them in Alsip.
A Lakeview couple was on an extended vacation when a burglar broke into their home in the 400 block of West Melrose on the Fourth of July last year. Surveillance video showed the thief taking property worth more than $90,000: a $16,750 platinum, sapphire, and diamond ring; a $9,000 necklace; gold earrings worth $7,500; a $4,000 jade ring; a $13,000 diamond tennis bracelet; a $5,000 gold Breitling watch; a $7,150 Rolex; a $4,250 gold necklace; $24,000 in other jewelry; and $300 cash. Myers allegedly presented his state ID when he pawned the items at a store on Jeweler’s Row in the Loop.
A 32-year-old man living in the 600 block of West Wrightwood went to the gym without locking his door on August 3 and returned home to discover a mandolin, handbags, and jewelry worth over $3,000 missing. He provided police with surveillance images that showed Myers arriving at his apartment with a FedEx envelope and leaving with his property. Prosecutors said Myers presented his driver’s license when he pawned the items in Hometown.
On August 9, 2024, a Roscoe Village woman went on a bike ride and returned to find her home in the 3400 block of North Hoyne ransacked. A surveillance video showed Myers in her kitchen holding a FedEx envelope, investigators said. A pair of $1,200 Christian Louboutin shoes, $800 Hermes shoes, a $2,000 Moncler coat, a $2,000 Burberry purse, a $2,000 Givenchy purse, and $2,000 cash were taken. By the time prosecutors charged Myers, her items had not been located.
Myers was discharged from parole in December 2023 after serving half of a four-year sentence he received for a robbery in Park Forest, officials said. His previous felony convictions include resisting police in 2016, a theft in the 1700 block of North Sedgwick in 2019, and a burglary in the 2400 block of North Janssen in 2019.
His 10-year burglary sentence will be cut in half for good behavior and reduced further by 624 days of credit he earned while awaiting trial.
