Dwight D. Reid, of the 5800 block of West Cermak Road in Cicero, was charged with armed robbery by Oak Park and Forest Park police officers on March 15 after allegedly assaulting a CTA rider with pepper spray and stealing her purse.

The woman, a Brookfield resident, told officers she was riding the Blue Line from downtown Chicago when she saw Reid get on at the Jackson or Clinton el stops and sit down behind her.

She said she saw a man, wearing glasses, a do’ rag and a blue and white leather jacket, looking at her purse and that he smelled like alcohol.

When the train arrived at the Harlem stop, the man, later identified as Reid, allegedly approached the woman, produced a can of mace and sprayed her in the face.

He then allegedly struggled with her for her pink, over-the-shoulder purse and exited the train.

The purse contained $4, her Social Security card, birth certificate, cell phone, keys, wallet, debit card and other assorted items.

When the train arrived at the 711 DesPlaines stop, at approximately 10:47 p.m. CTA officials attended to the woman and called police officers.

An ambulance arrived and treated her. After the report went out, Oak Park police contacted the Forest Park police and informed them they had a subject, matching the description of the CTA offender, in custody and the victim identified him as her attacker.

Reid allegedly confessed to attacking the woman and robbing her purse.

Police officers found the contents of the purse, a pair of glasses and a do’ rag in a trash can behind 814 Elgin Ave.

Burglary to garage

• Unknown persons took approximately $600 worth of tools from a garage on the 1100 block of Lathrop.

The owner, a Frankfurt man, said he is rehabbing the house at the address and noticed a pane of glass on the rear garage window was missing on March 8.  Over the past several days, he told police, he noticed several tools, including a Coleman Power Mate air compressor, a Pasload nail gun and a Worm Drive saw missing.

Burglary to vehicle with forced entry

• Police are searching for men in their early 20s for two alleged  burglaries to vehicles that were parked on the 7700 block of Van Buren Street, outside the DesPlaines CTA stop.

The men were last seen driving away from the scene of the crime in a gray 1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera headed toward Madison Street.

The men were seen committing the crime on March 15 at 11:44 a.m. by several witnesses, who were exiting the CTA station and heading toward their own car.

According to the witnesses, they heard the alarm go off on a blue 1995 Ford Mustang coupe and saw a young man standing in the parkway next to a broken passenger side window, holding a black rectangular object.

They said the second suspect was sitting behind the wheel of the Ciera, parked 50 feet south.

The witnesses called the police and saw the first man enter the Ciera, which proceeded to leave the area.

When the owner of the Mustang, a Broadview resident, arrived he confirmed the burglars had ripped out the dashboard and taken a detachable face stereo with the face in it.

While inspecting the scene, officers discovered a second vehicle had been burglarized, using the same technique.

A Pioneer stereo and a Blockbuster card were taken from the second vehicle.

• On March 16, between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. unknown offenders used an unknown tool to break the driver’s side window of a red 1998 Ford Windstar parked in the CTA lot at 711 DesPlaines Ave. Taken were a brown handbag with make up, an Illinois identification card and checkbooks.

• On March 15, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. a Melrose Park female reported that unknown offenders pried open the driver’s door and gained access to her white 2001 Chevrolet Cavalier.  The offenders broke the dashboard and removed a Pioneer DEH 1500 CD Player, 15 CDs and a carton of Parliament cigarettes.
• An Oak Brook male reported that unknown burglars took the chrome center caps to his 2003 Oldsmobile Bravado SUV while it was parked outside Doc Ryan’s at 7432 Madison St. between March 13 at 8 p.m. and March 14 at 3 a.m.
•Between March 16 at 8 p.m. and March 17 at 9:30 a.m. unknown offenders also removed the hubcaps from a 2004 Lincoln Navigator SUV parked on the 7400 block of West Washington Boulevard.

These items were taken from the records of the Forest Park Police Department between March 11 and March 19 and represents a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Anyone named in this report has only been charged with a crime. The cases have not yet been adjudicated.
“compiled by Melissa Lou