Three more Will County men named in $400K multicounty gaming burglary ring

A Plainfield man is the fourth defendant to be indicted in a burglary and money-laundering ring that investigators say stole around $400,000 from video gaming machines in more than 20 northern Illinois counties.

Warrants also are issued for the arrest of two other Will County men authorities say were involved, the attorney general said in a news release Thursday.

[ 3 indictments in theft and money-laundering ring in Lee County ]

[ 44 northern Illinois businesses defendants accused of targeting ]

According to investigators, members broke into gaming establishments, stole cash from the machines, laundered it by sending it to each other through the digital transaction network Zelle and also by buying jewelry, cars, clothing and accessories.

“Members of this burglary ring allegedly targeted bars, restaurants, social clubs and other small businesses that have video poker and video gaming machines,” Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in the release.

“They broke into dozens of these establishments in multiple counties and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash out of the machines,” Raoul said. “These arrests are the result of countless hours of cooperation between my office and several law enforcement agencies.”

Brian Morgan, 42, of Plainfield is indicted on charges of theft, punishable by up to 30 years in prison, as well as two counts of money laundering and 24 counts of burglary, each punishable by up to 14 years. He will be tried in Lee County Court.

Morgan is accused of burglarizing businesses in Carroll, DeKalb, Grundy, Iroquois, Jo Daviess, Kendall, Lee, LaSalle, Kane, Mason, McLean, Ogle and Will counties, according to the release.

He already is in Stateville Correctional Center, sentenced to three years each for separate burglaries in Will and Mason counties and a year for driving on a license that was revoked for a DUI, also in Will County, Illinois Department of Corrections records show.

Those burglaries are unrelated to this case, according to the release.

Syed Zaidi, 41, of Romeoville and Lucas Bailey, 40, of Wilmington are wanted, according to the release.

The announcement follows the unsealing Wednesday of indictments against three other defendants, including a mother and son.

Those charges were filed Aug. 12 in Lee County Court, where those three – Gino W. Wuttke of Chatsworth; his mother, Guilia R. Wuttke, 52, of Chatsworth; and Alyssa A. Slouka, 31, of Glen Ellyn – also will be tried.

Gino Wuttke, 32, is charged with 44 counts – theft, two counts of money laundering and 41 counts of burglary. He is in Lee County jail on $750,000 bond and has a hearing Sept. 8.

Wuttke also has a pending burglary case in Kendall County, stemming from an arrest in September in Yorkville, from when he reportedly lived in Joliet.

His mother is charged with two counts of money laundering, conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to commit theft and conspiracy to commit burglary.

Her bond is $25,000, and she has a hearing Sept. 15. Whether or not she is in custody was not provided.

Slouka is charged with two counts of burglary, two of theft, two of money laundering, and with conspiracy to commit theft, conspiracy to commit burglary and conspiracy to launder money.

She is in Lee County jail on $100,000 bond, and has a hearing Sept. 8.

The 22 counties in which the crimes are said to have been committed are Lee, Ogle, Carroll, Bureau, DeKalb, La Salle, DuPage, Will, Kane, Lake, Kendall, McHenry, Grundy, Jo Daviess, Champaign, Kankakee, Vermillion, Iroquois, Stephenson, Mason, McLean and Cook.

The Attorney General’s office received support from the Illinois Gaming Board and many law enforcement agencies, including the Illinois State Police, the DuPage and Lake County state’s attorney’s offices, the Joliet Police Department, and the Bureau, DeKalb, Grundy, Iroquois, Kendall and La Salle county sheriffs, according to the release.

The defendants were indicted by the Statewide Grand Jury Bureau, which is based in Dixon in Lee County. It investigates, indicts and prosecutes multicounty cases involving money laundering, racketeering, drugs, guns, computers and street gangs.

Assistant Attorney General Andrew Whitfield is prosecuting.