According to the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office, a man from DuPage County has been re-incarcerated after allegedly stealing a car less than 12 hours following his release on a different auto theft charge.
Marcel Seals, a 21-year-old from Aurora, appeared in court on Wednesday morning, accused of stealing a black Toyota Corolla from a garage in Aurora last summer. Officials noted that under state law, these charges did not qualify for pretrial detention, leading to his release at 8:42 a.m. on Wednesday.
By 8:19 p.m. the same day, Seals allegedly stole a 2021 white Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited X from a hair salon located in the 28300 block of Davis Parkway in Warrenville. Warrenville police quickly apprehended him following a 911 call about the theft, as reported by the state’s attorney’s office.
DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin commented, “Mr. Seals thumbed his nose at the criminal justice system and stole yet another vehicle.”
Prosecutors indicated that, similar to the previous charge, the new auto theft charge against Seals does not qualify for pretrial detention. Nonetheless, a judge ordered Seals to remain in custody until August 4, when a hearing will address the potential revocation of his pretrial release concerning the initial stolen vehicle case.
Berlin further stated, “Too often, we are seeing cases where a defendant accused of a serious crime is released pretrial because the Act does not allow judges to use their discretion for certain offenses. At the risk of repeating myself, I have consistently stated since the inception of the Safe-T-Act, judges, not the legislature, are in the best position to decide whether a defendant in any particular case should be detained pretrial.”
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