Man gets 5 years for burglarizing Cook County prosecutors’ office; faces sentencing in separate sex assault case

Jordan Ocampo, left, and a surveillance image of the burglar. (Cook County Sheriff’s Office)

A judge has given a man a five-year sentence for burglarizing the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office inside the Leighton Criminal Courthouse. But he could face additional prison time after pleading guilty to kidnapping and attempted criminal sexual assault in an unrelated case, where sentencing remains pending.

Jordan Ocampo, 46, also known as Jose Ocampo and Staci Lacy, pleaded guilty Thursday to burglary in connection with the July 22, 2024, after-hours break-in at the prosecutor’s office inside the county’s sprawling criminal court complex.

According to people familiar with the burglary, three laptops and other items were taken from offices used by prosecutors. At least one of the stolen laptops belonged to a state’s attorney working on an active murder trial.

Surveillance video released by the Cook County Sheriff’s Office showed Ocampo casually strolling out the courthouse’s main entrance while pushing a plastic cart commonly used to transport legal files around the building. Investigators identified Ocampo through security camera footage showing him entering and leaving the courthouse, as well as DNA recovered from a cigarette, officials said.

By the time investigators identified him in the burglary, Ocampo was already being held at the Cook County Jail, conveniently located next to the courthouse, following his arrest in an unrelated sexual assault case. In that case, prosecutors said Ocampo entered a store in the 2000 block of North California Avenue around 5:30 a.m. and approached a clerk while displaying a gun. He forced the woman into a back room, pulled down his pants, exposed himself, and tried to remove her shirt, according to a detention petition.

The woman fought back and escaped the room but managed to lock Ocampo inside the store, prosecutors said. She then flagged down a Chicago police unit and directed officers to the business. Officers allegedly found Ocampo inside with a fake gun and his pants down. Surveillance video captured the episode, according to prosecutors. The footage also allegedly showed Ocampo going behind the counter and taking the woman’s bag and other items before police arrived. Officers later found 24 rolls of coins and a stack of $1 bills in his bag, prosecutors said.

Court records show Ocampo pleaded guilty Thursday to attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault with a weapon and aggravated kidnapping with bodily harm during the same hearing in which he pleaded guilty to the courthouse burglary and was sentenced.

Judge Thomas Byrne, who imposed the five-year burglary sentence, will hold additional hearings in the sexual assault case before deciding Ocampo’s sentence in that matter. Byrne has already indicated in court records that any sentence in the second case will run concurrently with the burglary sentence.

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About Tim Hecke 1896 Articles
Tim Hecke is CWBChicago's managing partner. He started his career at KMOX, the legendary news radio station in St. Louis. From there, he moved on to work at stations in Minneapolis, Chicago, and New York City. Tim went on to build syndicated radio news and content services that served every one of America's 100 largest radio markets. He became CWBChicago's managing partner in 2019. His email address is [email protected]