Repeat offender sent to prison again for burglarizing Crystal Lake, Woodstock homes

A Lakemoor man who was on parole when police say he burglarized multiple homes last year in Crystal Lake and Woodstock pleaded guilty on Tuesday to burglarizing three homes and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Scott Weissert, 61, pleaded guilty to three counts of residential burglary, Class 1 felonies, and resisting a police officer, according to court records.

He was accused of stealing jewelry including bracelets, earrings and watches from various homes, according to indictments against him.

In exchange for pleading guilty, additional charges related to three other burglaries were dismissed as well as a charge of possession of less than 15 grams of cocaine, records show.

When he was arrested, Weissert was on parole for a 2017 Cook County case in which he was convicted of residential burglary, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections. He was paroled Oct. 14, 2022, and serving three years of supervised release.

As part of his plea, Weissert admitted to burglarizing homes located in the 400 block of Harold Street in Crystal Lake on March 7, in the 300 block of North Oak Street in Crystal Lake on March 20 and in the 3700 block of Doty Road in Woodstock on March 16, sentencing documents show.

The homes were entered through unlocked doors or by him causing physical damage. Each burglary occurred during the day and with “high-value jewelry” targeted, the McHenry County Sheriff’s office said at the time of his arrest.

He also pleaded guilty to resisting an officer on March 21 in which the officer suffered a shoulder injury, records show.

In each residential burglary plea, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison and three years for the resisting charge but all sentences will be served concurrently, records show.

Weissert is required to serve half of his prison term and will receive credit for 309 days, a sentencing order Judge Mark Gerhardt signed shows.

Gerhardt recommended he be placed in a facility that provides services for alcohol and substance abuse as well as mental health.

In one of the burglaries, Weissert was seen on a camera placed in the kitchen of a Woodstock home about 1 p.m. March 16. He was wearing a black ski mask, black leather jacket and black leather gloves. He was recorded “entering through the garage service door ... with a metal tire gauge,” according to a motion.

He also was seen walking throughout the house and exiting the master bedroom with a pillow case filled with jewelry and other items, according to the motion.

Video across the street from the home captured him exiting the house and driving off in a damaged, older model Cadillac, according to the motion.

In another incident about 2 p.m. March 20, a homeowner in Woodstock reported that a man who she did not know was banging loudly on her door. She did not answer and went upstairs.

“A few moments later, she heard a loud crash in the foyer and discovered the man inside of her home,” according to the motion.

The woman screamed, he ran off and again was captured on a nearby security camera getting into the same Cadillac and driving off.

On that same day at about 3 p.m. at a home in Crystal Lake, he was allegedly seen on a Ring video doorbell camera at the front door trying to gain access. The door was locked and he walked around to the back of the house and entered through a sliding glass door, according to the motion.

“Several items of jewelry were stolen” and placed inside a pillow case, according to the motion.

Weissert was arrested after police identified him through various camera footage and speaking with a relative. When they searched his vehicle they found a pouch containing “several pieces of jewelry,” identified by the victims as belonging to them, according to the motion.

Weissert has been convicted 18 times dating back to 1981 for residential burglary. He has spent several stints in prison, according to the motion.

In court Tuesday, Weissert was remorseful and apologized, his attorney Assistant Public Defender Richard Behof said.

He admitted he was wrong and asked for help for his mental illness and acknowledged he has “been incarcerated for most of his life,” Behof said.

When arrested last April, before implementation of the SAFE-T Act, McHenry County Judge James Cowlin ordered Weissert be held without bond.

“The Court finds that the proof is evident and the presumption great the defendant committed the offenses charge[d] and that no set of conditions can be ordered to ensure the safety of the public,” McHenry County Judge James Cowlin said in the order.

Prosecutors wrote in their petition asking he be held without bond that “the question is not whether the defendant will commit another residential burglary but how soon until [he] violates the sanctity of another’s home in the commission of a residential burglary.”