On June 19, 2019, at approximately 8:05AM, Lake County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to an address in the 12900 block of West Wadsworth Road, Beach Park, for a burglary to a landscaping trailer.  

The victim reported during the overnight hours, someone cut the lock on one of his landscaping trailers and stole five backpack blowers, two chainsaws, and a concrete saw.  

A few hours after reporting the burglary, the victim was contacted by an acquaintance, Angelo L. Rodriguez, 53, of the 1700 block of Hyde Park St, Waukegan.  Knowing the victim owns a  landscaping business, Rodriguez told the victim he had some landscaping items he recently acquired for sale.  The victim looked at photos of the items Rodriguez was selling and identified several of them as being the items stolen during the overnight hours.  

Sheriff’s Detectives and members of the Sheriff’s Special Investigations Group conducted an undercover operation to view and purchase the items Rodriguez possessed.  During the operation, Sheriff’s Detectives positively identified the items Rodriguez possessed as being the victim’s stolen items.

Rodriguez was arrested at the scene.  After being arrested, Rodriguez complained he wasn’t feeling well, so he was transported via ambulance to Vista East Medical Center in Waukegan, for evaluation.  Upon being discharged from the hospital, Rodriguez attempted to flee on foot from Sheriff’s Detectives.  After a very brief foot pursuit, Rodriguez was taken back into custody, before he exited the hospital.

Rodriguez was transported to the Lake County Jail and subsequently charged with:

Theft (Class 4 Felony)

Resisting/Obstructing a Peace Officer (Class A Misdemeanor)

Driving While License Suspended (Class A Misdemeanor)

Rodriguez remains held in the Lake County Jail pending an initial court hearing this morning.

Sheriff John Idleburg said, “We tend to see an uptick in property crimes and crimes of opportunity during the warmer weather months.  I’m very happy with the collaboration between our Patrol Division, Criminal Investigations Division, and Special Investigations Group that resolved this case quickly – recovering the victim’s property and arresting the offender.”

Sheriff Idleburg reminds the community all defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.