DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin announced that late yesterday afternoon, Thursday, August 8, 2024 that Judge Joseph Bugos has sentenced Joseph Covington, age 28, formerly of Chicago, to thirty-one years in the Illinois Department of Corrections following his guilty plea to one count of Home Invasion (Class X Felony) on April 3, 2024. At his appearance in Bond Court, Judge Brian Telander ordered he be held without bond. He has remained in custody at the DuPage County Jail.
On the morning of November 26, 2019, officers from the Darien Police Department responded to a residence on Belair Drive for a report of a home invasion. Upon their arrival, officers met with the victim, a female who was home alone from college that morning. Following an investigation, authorities learned that at approximately 9:00 a.m., after hearing a knock at the front door, the victim looked out her bedroom window into the backyard and noticed an individual wearing an orange utility vest and black ski mask. As the victim turned around in her bedroom, she was confronted by another individual wearing dark clothing and a black ski mask, pointing a black and silver handgun at her. The masked individual forced the victim downstairs at gunpoint where she was confronted by three additional male subjects wearing masks. The masked individuals, one of which was later identified as Covington, demanded to know where money was located inside the home.
Police also learned through their investigation that after repeated phone calls by the victim’s mother to the victim went unanswered, the masked individuals instructed the victim to answer her mother’s call and tell her everything was alright. After that conversation, the victim’s mother contacted a neighbor who went to the residence, and after the victim opened the door at the instruction of the intruders, the neighbor was able to pull the victim out of the residence and call 911. Officers along with a K-9 Unit arrived at the scene and were able to track the intruders’ path through backyards they used to flee the residence. Officers located a .40 caliber black and silver handgun loaded with thirteen rounds along a fence line in a neighbor’s yard, as well as various clothing items of evidentiary value along the way. A short time later, officers responded to a nearby Taco Bell parking lot for an individual who matched the description of the offenders, later identified as Covington. He was taken into custody at this time.
“I cannot begin to imagine the unspeakable terror the victim, who was home alone from college at the time, must have felt when she saw a masked man in her backyard and then was confronted by another armed, masked man in her bedroom. Our homes are our sanctuaries, and we all deserve to feel safe and secure at home. Mr. Covington not only stole the comfort and protection a home provides from his victim and her family, but also left an entire community on edge, concerned about their own wellbeing. The sentence imposed against Mr. Covington sends the message that in DuPage County, we will not tolerate this type of violent, criminal behavior. I thank the Darien Police Department for their prompt response to the initial 911 call and for the quick apprehension of the defendant in this case. I also thank Assistant State’s Attorneys Lee Roupas and Denis Cahill for their efforts in securing a conviction and significant sentence against Mr. Covington.”
— DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert B. Berlin
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