Two Chicago residents were arrested as they burglarized a Cicero business – and had restrained the resident of an adjacent apartment. Jeremiah J. Mays, 47, and Maranda L. Butler, 20, are charged with burglary and unlawful restraint. During the investigation, detectives learned their activity was similar to those reported in other recent suburban commercial burglaries. As a result, Mays has also been charged with burglarizing a commercial business in Blue Island, while other investigations into suburban commercial burglaries are ongoing. Around 1:30am Thursday, Cicero officers were conducting a targeted special operation in response to recent overnight burglaries to local businesses. They received an alarm call at a business in the 5600 block of West Roosevelt Road and found the glass entry door was shattered and subjects were inside that closed business. After searching for the first-floor business, they also searched a second-floor apartment.

Mays and Butler were found hiding inside that apartment. They found the apartment resident in a bedroom, where Mays and Butler had ordered the victim to stay and locked the door. Investigators also recovered several pieces of evidence at the scene. During questioning, Mays and Butler admitted to the crimes. Later, detectives were contacted by Blue Island police, who identified Mays as a suspect in a burglary that happened there on Nov. 11. Charges were also approved for that incident and Mays is now being investigated for other suburban burglaries, including some in Cicero. The special patrol operation was funded in part by the Illinois Attorney General’s Organized Retail Crime Grant. President Larry Dominick thanked Attorney General Kwame Raoul for providing funds that allowed the special patrol operation to take place. Mays and Butler are currently being held at the Cook County Jail. Members of the public are reminded that these complaints contain only charges and are not proof of the defendant’s guilt.  A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial in which it is the government’s burden to prove his or her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.