Crime & Safety
Police Unknowingly Released Suspect in Home Invasion
Officers stopped car for seat belt violation, unaware that violator was linked to break-in.
Naperville police had a suspect in a home invasion in their custody on June 28, but didn’t realize it.
A driver who was pulled over because his passenger wasn’t wearing a seat belt not only was the first to tell police about the , but apparently was unaware he was driving one of the suspects in his own vehicle.
Police pulled over the driver because his passenger Clarence Guyton, 19, wasn’t wearing his seat belt. Guyton provided false information at that time and was charged with giving the patrol officer a fake name, according to police and court records.
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Guyton was mentioned in the June 30 Naperville police blotter for the incident.
Later it was learned that Guyton was one of four people accused of breaking into the residence in the 1400 block of Fairway Drive, threatening a woman with a gun and stealing her cell phone.
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Naperville Police Sgt. Gregg Bell confirmed that Guyton was in the car stopped near Route 59 and Brookdale Road when the driver told the officer his girlfriend had just been held up in her apartment.
Police said the home invasion occurred around 5:21 p.m., while the traffic stop was made just before 6 p.m. A copy of Guyton's ticket appears to indicate the stop was at 5:07 p.m., according to court documents.
The driver was not charged with any crimes, and Guyton was released at the scene.
"The officer had no idea," Bell said, referring to Guyton's ties to the break-in. "It's just one of those things."
Guyton, who has addresses in Naperville and Chicago, remains in DuPage County Jail on $200,000 bond charged with home invasion, armed robbery and residential burglary. Three others - Robert Jackson, 24; Kendyl Gill, 17; and Brandon Reynolds, 15 - are also in custody charged with the same offenses.
Police said Reynolds was arrested the same night as the break-in. The other men, including Guyton, were picked up June 30.
As if Guyton's chance encounter during the traffic stop June 28 wasn't enough, he appeared in court June 29 in an unrelated misdemeanor case from May where he was accused of using steak knives to scare a woman who asked Guyton to leave her apartment, court records show.
