Waukegan Burglary Suspect Gets Stuck In Restaurant Grease Vent, Police Say

A 24-year-old man was found wedged inside the ventilation system above a grill at Liguez Brunch in Waukegan earlier this month, covered in grease and unable to free himself, after the restaurant's owners reported an alarm sounding and someone inside screaming for help. Cosme Cruz was pulled from the vent by fire and rescue crews using a rope, then taken to a hospital before being arrested days later on a burglary warrant.

The incident unfolded just after 7:30 a.m. on August 16 at the restaurant, located at 804 10th Street, according to FOX 32 Chicago. Police officers responding to the alarm found a man stuck in the kitchen ventilation system above the grill, per police, and Waukegan Fire and Rescue crews assisted in removing Cruz through the rooftop. Cruz told police he had been running from people and climbed into the rooftop vent to hide, according to the outlet's account of the police version of events.

Grease-Covered and In Need of Medical Care

Cruz was covered in grease by the time crews extracted him, and he required medical treatment before he could be questioned further. He was taken to Vista Medical Center East on Sheridan Road in Waukegan, a community hospital equipped with a Level 2 Trauma Center and 24-hour emergency department that sits less than three miles from the restaurant, per Vista Health System.

Cruz was not arrested at the scene. Instead, he was taken into custody on August 21 on a burglary warrant, a Class 2 felony charge, the report notes. He was then booked into the Lake County Jail, which sits at 20 South County Street in Waukegan and serves as the central detention facility for felony arrests and warrant holds across the county under the 19th Judicial Circuit Court. He was held pending his first court appearance.

What Illinois Law Says About the Charge

Under Illinois criminal law, entering a building without authority with the intent to commit theft or another felony is classified as a Class 2 felony when property damage occurs or a structure is breached, carrying a statutory sentence of 3 to 7 years in state prison and fines up to $25,000, according to the Illinois General Assembly. Whether Cruz will remain behind bars pending trial hinges on Illinois's Pretrial Fairness Act, part of the SAFE-T Act enacted in September 2023, which abolished cash bail statewide and established a presumption that defendants facing non-forcible Class 2 felonies are eligible for pretrial release unless prosecutors file a verified petition showing a specific public safety threat or flight risk, per Illinois Legal Aid Online.

If investigators determine Cruz was carrying specialized break-in tools, Illinois law also allows for a separate Class 4 felony charge for possessing tools suited to burglary, punishable by 1 to 3 years in prison, according to the Illinois General Assembly. The dossier does not indicate whether any such tools were found or whether that additional charge has been filed.

A Small Business Caught in a Wider Pattern

Liguez Brunch is a family-owned Mexican breakfast and brunch spot on 10th Street known for chilaquiles, breakfast skillets, crepes, and scrambles, according to its listing on Uber Eats. The break-in adds to a run of commercial burglaries that has rattled small business owners across Lake County. In May, Hoodline reported on a teen crew tied to 40 break-ins spanning Waukegan, Gurnee, Grayslake, and Lindenhurst, with police noting the toll repeated break-ins take on business owners' operations.

That pattern lines up with citywide numbers. Waukegan recorded 236 burglaries and 1,407 total property crimes in 2024, a property crime rate of 1,614.4 incidents per 100,000 residents, according to FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data compiled by OpenCrime. A separate economic analysis from CrimeGrade.org estimated that property crime costs Waukegan more than $11.7 million annually, with direct victim losses from stolen goods and property damage making up over a third of that total.

The Waukegan Police Department, which responded to the alarm at Liguez Brunch, operates with roughly 183 total sworn and civilian staff, a staffing ratio of about 2.0 officers per 1,000 residents compared with a national average of 3.3, according to AreaVibes. It remains unresolved whether Cruz has entered a plea or retained an attorney, and the dossier does not specify what, if anything, was taken from the restaurant before he became trapped.