A clerk at the 7-Eleven store, 7749 Roosevelt Rd., told police Jan. 11 that the man who had just robbed him had fled eastbound on foot.
He provided officers with a description of the man ” about 25-years-old, 5-feet, 3-inches and 150 pounds with a dark puffy jacket, a homemade skullcap, blue jeans and a handgun.
The clerk told police that the man had entered the store, walked around for several moments, then walked towards the door, pulled a cap with crude cutouts for his eyes over his face, and then placed a black handgun on the counter and said “give me all the twenties, I’m not going to hurt you.” The clerk then emptied the register, which only contained fives and singles, and the man fled.
An officer spotted a man matching the description on the 1000 block of Ferdinand Avenue, later identified as Ronald Jourige, 23, of the 800 block of Ferdinand Avenue. Jourige immediately told police “I did it, you got me, the gun is over there.” An officer found a black BB gun in the area where he was pointing.
The clerk identified Jourige, and while searching him, police later found several five and one dollar bills, as well as a skullcap with eye holes. He admitted at the police station that he has a crack addiction that causes him to commit crimes, and signed a written statement admitting to the robbery.
He was charged with felony counts of armed robbery and aggravated robbery, and a court date was set for Jan. 17 at Maybrook Court.
Retail thief gives fake name
Police on Jan. 10 responded to a robbery in progress call from the A.J. Wright store at 7630 Roosevelt Rd. Police soon saw a man matching a description given by store staff leaving the store, and the man was identified by the employees as the thief. A search revealed that he had stuffed nine articles of clothing and a tin snip with a total value of $217 in the front of his pants and shirt.
When the man was taken to the police station, a check of the name he had given officers, Duejuan Macy, revealed no record. When told that he could be charged with obstruction if he had given a false name, the man insisted the name was correct. When told that the date of birth and age he had given did not match, he said that police had his year of birth wrong.
The man was fingerprinted, and the prints revealed that his name was actually Howard Curby. He was charged with retail theft and attempted obstructing.
Gutters stolen from church
The president of First United Church of Christ, 1000 Elgin Ave., reported to police last week that two copper gutters and downspouts were missing from the building. He said that a 10-foot section of downspout had been taken from the church about three months ago, but he had not reported the theft because it was replaced for free by the gutter company. The man estimated that the stolen property was worth over $1,000, and said he thought it had been taken in the last couple weeks. He did not have any information on possible offenders.
Break-in on Marengo
A resident of the 200 block of Marengo Avenue told police that upon returning from work on Jan. 9 she found her apartment ransacked and her small dog locked in the bedroom.
The contents of two bedroom dressers, the drawers of a computer desk, a living room cabinet, a jewelry box and a storage box had all been dumped on the floor. The rear apartment door jamb was broken. All that was missing, however, was $150 and a CTA card, which were in a red storage box. Various electronic items, as well as the jewelry, were left untouched.
Police came up with negative results when searching for fingerprints, but were able to determine that the door jamb was broken by brute force when the offender applied his shoulder to the door from the outside.
Fight on CTA train
A man told police that he was purchasing a CTA ticket at the Blue Line station at 711 Desplaines Ave. when a man, later identified as Steven Jones, asked to sell him a ticket.
The man told Jones he was not interested, and asked him to go away. Jones again asked the man to buy the ticket, this time more aggressively. He again told Jones to go away, bought his ticket from the vending machine, and went upstairs and took a seat on a train.
Jones then followed him onto the train and punched him in the mouth.
A CTA platform supervisor witnessed the incident, and said Jones appeared to have been unprovoked when hitting the man. A downstairs supervisor confirmed the man’s account of the conversation at the vending machine. Jones was arrested and charged with battery.
These items were taken from the records of the Forest Park Police Department between Jan. 9 and 13 and represent only a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Anyone named in this report has only been charged with a crime. The cases had not yet been adjudicated.
“Compiled by Seth Stern
