A woman caught on camera prying open mailboxes in a Wicker Par apartment building was already on pretrial release for the same type of crime, a judge said, and she had just finished doing prison time for a string of burglaries that included stealing Christmas presents from under a victim’s tree.
Adelaide Cornell, 46, was arrested early on February 26 after officers monitoring a Chicago Police Department surveillance camera watched her use a screwdriver to force open the entrance to a multi-unit residential building in the 1300 block of North Ashland Avenue, prosecutors said. She went on to pry open mailboxes inside the building’s vestibule, according to the allegations.
Officers responded to the scene and intercepted Cornell as she sat nearby in her Buick Encore. Prosecutors said they found a screwdriver wedged next to the driver’s seat, and a search of her car turned up multiple screwdrivers and 16 sets of keys.
Cornell was charged with burglary and possession of burglary tools. At a detention hearing, Judge James Costello ordered her held, saying she had been on pretrial release for barely a month for an “identical crime.” The judge also noted she had recently completed parole and had “many incarcerations.”
Her history includes a burglary spree she committed and went to prison for under the name Adelaide Tamayo. In 2024, she pleaded guilty to a run of home break-ins stretching from Bucktown to Lakeview, as well as a phone harassment charge after she threatened a victim who had posted surveillance images of her on social media.
Those crimes began on December 4, 2022, when Tamayo entered the vestibule of a condo building in the 800 block of West Armitage and forcibly removed a Ring doorbell camera.
A week later, Tamayo and an accomplice allegedly broke into a residential building in the 1900 block of North Milwaukee, stealing packages from a hallway and forcing their way into storage units to take more property, all while security cameras recorded them. Later that same day, surveillance video captured the pair stealing packages from a building vestibule and storage area in the 3200 block of North Sheffield. One of those cameras captured an image of their getaway car, which bore a license plate registered to Tamayo, prosecutors said.
On December 17, 2022, Tamayo and an accomplice allegedly pried their way into an apartment building in the 2700 block of North Pine Grove to steal more packages.
A few days after that, a Lakeview man opened his bedroom door in the 2900 block of North Mildred and found Tamayo and an accomplice holding Christmas presents that had been under his tree, prosecutors alleged. He confronted the pair as they tried to leave and knocked the packages from their hands before they fled.
On New Year’s Day 2023, Tamayo and an accomplice allegedly knocked on an apartment door in the 3300 block of North Ashland and asked to speak with someone named “Jason.” When the resident said they didn’t know anyone by that name, the pair went to the building’s garage, broke into a car, and took a bag, officials said. A camera recorded that break-in as well.
The harassment charge stemmed from threatening messages Tamayo sent to a victim who posted surveillance images of her online. In one message, prosecutors said, Tamayo wrote, “I’m gonna get you, b****.”
In another, she wrote, “The police ain’t going to do s***. Straight.” Tamayo admitted to sending the messages, prosecutors said.
On December 5, 2024, Tamayo pleaded guilty before Judge Paul Pavlus to six counts of burglary and one count of phone harassment. He sentenced her to four years for the burglaries and three years for the harassment charge, with the terms running concurrently.
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