Ruse Burglary Crew Caught In The Act By Task Force: State Police

CHICAGO — State police said Monday they arrested a ruse burglary crew after they broke into the home of an elderly Barrington Hills resident last month. A group of men were under surveillance by the Illinois State Police ruse burglary task force as they lured an 87-year-old woman into her backyard before other members of the crew burglarized the house.

Police said multiple members of the five-man crew rang the doorbell of the woman on the afternoon of April 30 and employed several ruses to distract the targeted resident, including claiming they needed to seal the driveway, work on construction on a neighboring property and landscape her backyard.

They persuaded the woman to come into the back yard, at which point other members of the crew forced open the front door and headed to the woman's bedroom, state police said.

When members of crew began asking the woman whether anyone else was home, she became suspicious. As she was calling 911, she noticed two men run out of her bedroom and out of the front door, according to police.

The ISP's ruse burglary task force happened to be keeping the group under surveillance following a complaint about a separate incident believed to involve the same crew in which they stole about $60,000 from the home of an 82-year-old woman in Glenview.

Members of the task force with the help of multiple law enforcement agencies approached the home to stop the burglary. As they approached, they noticed the men fleeing out of the front door and fron the backyard.

All five were taken into custody at the scene.

Beatle Miller, 56, of Arlington Heights; Walter Miller, 44, of Mount Prospect; Anthony Miller, 28, of Des Plaines, as well as Tom Miller, 29, of Arlington Heights and Alan Ely, 29, of Mount Prospect were arrested and charged with residential burglary, a class 1 felony.

Ely and Tom Miller were released on a bond. Beatle, Walter and Anthony Miller were being held on electronic monitoring by the Cook County Sheriff's department. Beatle and Walter are also facing charges related to the Glenview ruse burglary.

Police said Walter and Beatle are brothers, while Tom is the son of Beatle and Anthony is related by marriage.

Ruse burglaries often target seniors living at home. They can include one or more ploys to distract residents, which can include purporting to need to check the water, property lines, trim trees and other schemes.