Man guilty of stealing Lexus, Ford truck, gun, washer-dryer from home near Marengo

Prosecutors said a Poplar Grove man was “the ring leader” who planned, schemed and executed the burglary of a Marengo-area home.

A McHenry County jury apparently agreed by returning with a guilty verdict in about an hour Wednesday for Sean Fitzpatrick, 49.

Fitzpatrick was found guilty of residential burglary, a Class 1 felony, along with several other charges including being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm, unlawful possession of a stolen motor vehicle and theft greater than $100,000, the clerk said in reading the verdicts.

Owners of the home, a couple described by prosecutors as “snowbirds,” were wintering in Florida and about to return home when, on March 28 and 29, 2023, Fitzpatrick and co-defendant Scott Henrie, 36, of Janesville, Wisconsin, burglarized the couple’s large home and two garages set on 35 acres of farmland.

Their “house was left in shambles,” Assistant State’s Attorney Shelby Page told jurors.

Henrie pleaded guilty last year to one count of residential burglary and was sentenced to four years in prison, according to court records. Henrie testified this week under order of a subpoena for the prosecution. He said he did not receive any deal or promise in exchange for his guilty plea or to testify.

Neither Fitzpatrick nor Henrie knew the homeowners, who said they were alerted by their alarm company the morning of March 29 that their home had been burglarized.

Henrie said he and Fitzpatrick planned to burglarize the home and carried out the plan together. Prosecutors said all of the household items stolen were found in Fitzpatrick’s home, including a washer and dryer, jewelry, a crockpot, a firearm, a flatbed trailer, a John Deere Gator 4x2 and a snowplow. Authorities even found a bottle of Downy that had been stolen from the home, prosecutors said.

A 2022 Lexus LS 500 sedan stolen from the property was found at a hotel in Woodstock, where Henrie was staying. The couple’s 2015 Ford F-250 pickup truck also was found, completely stripped of parts, less than a mile from Fitzpatrick’s home, prosecutors said.

In closing arguments, prosecutors reminded jurors of jailhouse phone calls they heard during the trial that included Fitzpatrick making incriminating statements. Jurors also saw Henrie and Fitzpatrick on surveillance video twice entering the gate into Fitzpatrick’s neighborhood March 28 and 29. Each was in a separate vehicle, with Henrie driving the stolen pickup truck loaded with the washer and dryer.

Assistant State’s Attorney Stephen Gregorowicz told jurors that the couple, married 56 years, worked hard for everything they had and that Henrie and Fitzpatrick stole anything “not nailed down” and “violated the sanctity of [their] home.”

Fitzpatrick’s attorney, Brian Morgan, told jurors that Fitzpatrick is “a kind man” who would give anyone the shirt off his back. He said Fitzpatrick let Henrie stay with him rent free because Henrie “was going through relationship problems.” Morgan said that it was Henrie and possibly another friend who committed the burglary and brought all the stolen items to Fitzpatrick’s home.

Fitzpatrick was working and sleeping a lot during this time. He didn’t “babysit” Henrie and didn’t question where the items came from, assuming it all came from the home where Henrie previously lived or his grandmother’s.

Morgan also said there was no DNA or fingerprints presented as evidence and sought to cast doubt on whether Henrie’s testimony was truthful. Fitzpatrick, Morgan insisted, was just “helping a friend.” And although Morgan noted that Henrie could not have committed the burglary on his own, he said Fitzpatrick “didn’t help him, had nothing to do with this.”

Fitzpatrick, who had been out of jail on cash bond, was taken into custody following the verdict. His sentencing is set for Sept. 25.