CHICAGO – A woman has pleaded guilty to committing a string of burglaries from Bucktown to Lakeview and harassing a victim who posted surveillance images of her on social media. Adelaide Tamayo, 45, was even accused of stealing presents from under a victim’s Christmas tree.
The crimes began on Dec. 4, 2022, when Tamayo entered the vestibule of an apartment building in the 800 block of West Armitage and forcibly removed a Ring doorbell camera, prosecutors said.
The owner of the Ring camera posted surveillance footage of the thief on a community message board and warned people to be on the lookout for the woman. It wasn’t long before the victim started receiving text messages to a phone number she listed in the social media post.
“I’m going to get you, so you gotta be on your guard,” one text read.
“I’m going to get you, motherfucker,” said another. ‘The police are not going to do anything. Immediately.”
Prosecutors said Tamayo admitted to sending the threatening text messages.
A week after the Ring camera incident, Tamayo and an accomplice allegedly broke into a residential building in the 1900 block of North Milwaukee. They stole packages from a hallway and entered storage units to take more property as video cameras rolled.
Later that day, surveillance video captured the pair stealing packages from the vestibule of a building and a storage unit in the 3200 block of North Sheffield. Prosecutors say one camera captured an image of the thieves’ getaway car, which bore a license plate registered to Tamayo.
Tamayo and an accomplice allegedly entered an apartment complex in the 2700 block of North Pine Grove on December 17, 2022, to steal more packages.
A few days later, a Lakeview man opened his bedroom door in the 2900 block of North Mildred to discover Tamayo and an accomplice with Christmas presents that had been under his tree, prosecutors alleged. He confronted the pair as they tried to leave and successfully knocked the parcels out of their hands before they fled.
Then, on New Year’s Day 2023, Tamayo and an accomplice knocked on the door of an apartment in the 3300 block and asked to speak to “Jason.” When the resident said they didn’t know anyone named Jason, Tamayo and her companion went to the home’s garage, broke into a car and took a bag, officials said. Once again a camera captured the burglary.
Court records show Tamayo pleaded guilty Dec. 5 before Judge Paul Pavlus to six burglaries and one count of telephone harassment. He sentenced her to four years for the burglaries and three years for intimidation, with the terms to be served concurrently. Tamayo was released on Christmas Eve after spending thirteen days in prison. The state’s 50% good behavior credit and time spent on an ankle monitor satisfied the balance of her sentence.
No charges were ever filed against Tamayo’s alleged accomplices.
