Felon Busted for Robbing Elderly Woman: Police

Fingerprints and other evidence left at the scene led Will County Sheriff's Office investigators to the man believed to have robbed and burglarized an elderly Joliet-area woman earlier this week.

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James D. Miles, 25, 1001 Nowell, Joliet, was arrested Wednesday afternoon, just a day after he allegedly broke into a home in the 1800 block of Brandon Road and then stole the homeowner's purse when she returned to her house as he was leaving, Deputy Chief Ken Kaupas said.

A fingerprint expert at the sheriff's office helped analyze prints left behind at the scene, which ended up belonging to Miles, who is on parole from a 2009 residential burglary. Miles implicated himself in the crime when interviewed by investigators, Kaupas said.

Initially, the victim did not know she'd been burglarized. She returned home Tuesday afternoon to find Miles in his car parked in her driveway, reports said.

When she declined his offer to do yard work for pay, he allegedly pulled the woman out of her vehicle, threatened her with a screwdriver and took her purse before fleeing, reports said.

According to Illinois Department of Corrections records, Miles was sentenced for four years in prison for residential burglary and robbery -- a term he started serving in March 2010 and from which he was paroled in December 2011. He was to have completed is parole this December, records show.

He was also sentenced to three years in prison in 2007 for attempted robbery, records show.

Miles is being held in Will County jail pending a hearing at which bond will be set.