Police received a tip from a Forest Park taxi driver on March 6 that a 2000 Nissan Maxima was picking up passengers from the CTA station at 711 Desplaines Ave. without a license from the village.
Police confronted the driver of the car, Holly Burnes of Wilmington, who was unable to provide an ID. Police soon learned that the car had been reported stolen from Wilmington, and placed Burnes and passenger Monica Carter under arrest.
Burnes’ father is the registered owner of the car, and reported it stolen on March 2. Burnes told police that her mother gave her permission to take the car, but that she might have taken it for too long.
Her parents came to the Forest Park Police Department to file a complaint.
A crack pipe was found on the floor of the car, but Burnes denied ownership. She admitted that she was a heroin user, but said she does not use crack.
She was charged with criminal trespass to a vehicle and possession of drug paraphernalia, while Carter was charged with attempting to obstruct a peace officer.
Drunk driver captured after chase
A man was charged with traffic violations and underage consumption of alcohol by a minor after being chased by police by both car and foot on March 9.
Vincent Gerace of the 1000 block of N. Fair Oaks Ave. was spotted by an officer in an unmarked car skidding as he turned southbound onto Circle Avenue from Madison Street, nearly hitting the police car.
The officer made a U-turn and pursued the car, which then turned left onto Adams Street, eventually heading southbound in the alley at Marengo and Circle Avenue.
The car parked in front of a home on the 600 block of Marengo Avenue, and Gerace exited, scaling two fences before surrendering to police.
Upon searching his car, police found Gerace’s ID which revealed that he is 18 years old.
A breathalyzer taken by River Forest police after the Forest Park department’s machine was apparently not working correctly showed Gerace’s blood alcohol content at .13.
Thief arrested
with stolen pharmaceuticals
While patrolling the Osco/Dunkin’ Donuts combined parking lot on Harlem Avenue on March 11, an auxiliary police officer spotted a car with an improperly displayed Indiana license plate.
The car was curbed by police after it illegally attempted to overtake another car in order to turn left onto Harlem Avenue from the lot. The driver was identified as Randy Sharp and the passenger as Bernard Malone, both of Chicago.
Police spotted a shopping bag on the front passenger side of the car which contained several boxes of pharmaceutical medicine. An Osco employee called to the scene identified the medicine as Osco merchandise, and valued the goods at $659.
A surveillance tape from the store showed the two men loading the medicine into a shopping cart and concealing it beneath rolls of toilet paper.
Both men were charged with retail theft, and Sharp was also charged with several traffic violations.
Biker mistaken for Pace bus
According to a report on file at the Forest Park police department, Mark Plumtree of Hillside knocked an unknown white male from his bicycle on March 10 thinking that the man was the #305 Eastbound Pace bus.
The man pushed Plumtree away and continued riding eastbound on Roosevelt Road. Upon searching Plumtree, police fond a half empty bottle of vodka and two bent metal spoons commonly used to cook heroin. Plumtree was charged with local ordinance violations and released.
Man arrested after breaking apartment windows
Chicago resident Michael Stamps was charged with criminal damage to property after apparently breaking a window at an Adams Street apartment building on March 8.
A resident of the building called police to report the incident, stating that Stamps, who is the father of her child, knocked on her door and asked to spend the night.
She refused, and soon after heard the sound of breaking glass followed by footsteps running down the building’s stairwell and a door slamming shut.
Police found broken glass in the hallway near the woman’s apartment and 15 panels of glass shattered on a window. They found a blue jacket and red hat on the scene, and the jacket’s pockets contained several traffic citations and social security documents bearing Stamps name.
Stamps was later found walking near Harlem Avenue and Randolph Street with his hands and shirt sleeves bloody. He first said he had cut himself breaking bottles, but later acknowledged breaking windows.
The damage to the buildings windows was estimated at $250.
These items were taken from the records of the Forest Park Police Department between March 6 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, and the cases have not yet been adjudicated.
” Compiled by Seth Stern
