URBANA — An Urbana man who allegedly broke into the apartment of women living in Campustown and stole items over the weekend was charged Monday with burglary.
Judge Brett Olmstead set bond for Edward Bennett, 27, who listed an address in the 700 block of East Green Street, at $15,000 after hearing details of his arrest Sunday morning.
A Champaign police report said one of the women who lived in an apartment in the 100 block of East Daniel Street was awakened around 8:20 a.m. by a man later identified as Bennett sitting next to her in bed, giving him drinks.
Not recognizing the man, he alerted his roommates, one of whom found a North Face jacket and a pair of Nike sneakers missing from his room.
Police contacted Bennett after seeing him flee the complex. The woman who woke him next to her identified Bennett as wearing his roommate’s Nike jacket.
After he was arrested, Bennett was searched and in his pocket, police found $164 wrapped around several debit cards and a student ID card that belonged to the woman who was robbed the clothes. He said the card belonged to a girlfriend, but the woman said she didn’t know Bennett.
Olmstead denied a request by the state’s attorney’s office that Bennett be fitted with a GPS. The judge ordered him to have no contact with the women in the apartment or at that address.
Court records show Bennett has one misdemeanor theft conviction but four misdemeanor cases pending in three counties, including two cases in Champaign County for theft.
If convicted of burglary of a residence, Bennett faces a mandatory prison term of four to 15 years. He will return to court in this case on September 14.
