PORTAGE PARK — Sunday's arrest of Christopher "Slinky" Perez was a "step in the right direction" toward resolving a string of violent home invasions that have targeted elderly Northwest Side residents in recent weeks, but police believe at least one other suspect remains at large, according to Jefferson Park Police District Cmdr. Bill Looney.
Perez, 23, was arrested in the Kelvyn Park neighborhood Sunday morning with a pouch full of jewelry he was later found to have stolen from an elderly couple on Saturday, police said.
He was charged with two counts of home invasion with a dangerous weapon, one count of resisting arrest and one count of theft, according to police. He also was wanted for a parole violation, police said.
Perez has not yet been connected to three other home invasions reported in the area, most recently last Thursday in the 5300 block of West Henderson Street. The 81-year-old man and 77-year-old woman assaulted in that attack remained in the hospital "for observations" on Tuesday, according to Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30th).
During the Saturday incident, Perez allegedly climbed into the couple's home through a back window at 1:19 a.m. He walked up to the 84-year-old man in the living room and said he had a gun.
The man and woman gave him a wallet, checkbook, $30 in cash and jewelry, police said.
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Another attack was reported Tuesday night in the 4800 block of West Nelson Street, and on May 19, police said a 78-year-old woman was badly beaten and robbed by a man while she cleaned her Irving Park home.
Detectives "do think there's a connection" among all four robberies, but new charges will depend on whether new evidence emerges, Looney said.
"It depends on whether we can track down any of the items that were stolen, and if we can get any eye-witnesses to come forward," the commander said. "The seniors were obviously pretty traumatized, and we're not sure they'll be able to give a positive ID."
Ibraheem Kadhim said Tuesday that footage from his security camera shows a man matching Perez's description breaking into the Henderson Street home last Thursday. The house's back entrance faces Kadhim's Cemerex convenience store, 5230 W. Belmont Ave., he said.
But anti-violence activist Andrew Holmes said he was "100 percent sure" that at least one additional suspect is still out there.
"People shouldn't let their guards down," Holmes said Tuesday. "Nine times out of 10, when someone goes in [to a robbery], you best believe they've got someone standing outside as a lookout."
Police are also "definitely thinking there was more than one person involved" in the home invasions, according to Looney.
Holmes is offering a $1,000 reward for anyone who comes forward with information that leads to an arrest and conviction, he said.
Saturday's home invasion is the latest chapter in a long history of residential burglaries and robberies tied to Perez, court records show.
Perez was previously convicted in 2014 of residential burglary, court records show. In that case, he and two other men were caught on surveillance footage stealing a rifle, shotgun, handgun, ammunition and a laptop from a home in the 5000 block of West George Street on Jan. 20, 2014.
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Perez was sentenced to 5½ years in prison and released on parole in May 2016, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections.
He was previously convicted in 2011 of robbery, court records show. Details of that case were not immediately available. Perez was sentenced to three years in prison and had been paroled by October 2013, when he was convicted of having contact with a street-gang while on parole.
Court records list Perez as a gang member.
Perez, of the 4800 block of West Fletcher Street, appeared in bond court Monday, where he was held on $750,000 bail on charges of home invasion with a dangerous weapon, theft and resisting arrest.
