Oak Lawn, Illinois Burglar Charged For Leaving Pet Canary In Cold

As if breaking into a business wasn't bad enough.

Break-ins happen all the time but one recent one in Oak Lawn, Illinois has a twist.

31-year-old Andre Starkes is facing felony charges after breaking into Star One Tobacco around 3:00 a.m. in Oak Lawn. In the actual burglary itself, he was busted with the business owner called 911 because he saw the break-in on his security cameras. Police cleared the store and couldn't find Starkes but found a broken window.

After a search of the area, police found Starkes a block away.

He had a lot of stuff clearly stolen from the business on him. But what wasn't on him was a live green and yellow canary that he had left outside of the store. The canary was in a cage and at that time, temperatures were below 50-degrees, which can be lethal for a canary.

The canary survived but because of it, Starkes got the additional charge of animal cruelty added onto his list.

He's facing a lot of other charges related to the burglary itself, including felony charges of burglary and tampering with a security system (since he messed up the security system too) and multiple misdemeanors.

He's currently detained in the Cook County Jail.

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Filed Under: Illinois