Woman accused of stealing ID from Crystal Lake car and trying to cash fraudulent check pleads guilty

A woman who Crystal Lake police said entered an unlocked vehicle and stole personal items, including a woman’s driver’s license, and then tried to fraudulently cash a check for $4,480 pleaded guilty Wednesday.

Brianna Alyce Pettinato, 37, of Waukegan, pleaded guilty to one count of identity theft of between $2,000 and $10,000, a Class 2 felony, and was sentenced to five years in prison. She is required to serve half of her prison time. Afterward, she will serve 12 months of mandatory supervised release, according to the judgment order signed by Judge Tiffany Davis in McHenry County court.

Pettinato, who also has a home address in Sunrise, Florida, according to the jail log, will receive credit for 330 days served in the county jail since her arrest, plus another 16 days of credit for work, volunteering or participating in a self-improvement program, according to the order.

In exchange for the guilty plea, additional charges were dismissed, including forgery, possession of less than 15 grams each of fentanyl and cocaine, unlawful possession of a credit or debit card, possession of drug paraphernalia, theft/deception of $500 to $10,000, burglary, unlawful possession of an ID card and identity theft, according to court documents.

She pleaded guilty to using a check with another woman’s name on it to “fraudulently obtain money, goods or services” from the woman’s credit union accounts in Libertyville between $2,000 and $10,000, according to the indictment.

Pettinato also was accused of entering a Toyota Camry parked at a business on Route 31 in Crystal Lake with intent to commit burglary and possessing another woman’s American Express card without consent, as well as forgery in trying to cash a check in the woman’s name for $4,480, according to the indictment.

Crystal Lake Police Chief James Black said that on Dec. 28, 2023, a woman reported that her unlocked vehicle was entered and her belongings were stolen, including her driver’s license. On Jan. 3, Pettinato went to the credit union and tried to cash a forged, stolen check belonging to the person who made the report.

“An alert clerk at the Baxter Credit Union realized that Pettinato was not who she purported herself to be and called 911,” Black said. “Pettinato was apprehended by [police] as she exited the credit union.”

Pettinato did not know the victim, Black said.