A 23-year-old woman accused of trying to pass counterfeit money told police she was not aware the $100 bill was a fake. She also told police she obtained the bill during a weekend barbecue where she gave a stranger $53 for it.
According to a July 20 department report, officers were called to a currency exchange on the 7200 block of Roosevelt when an employee suspected the bill was a phony. Authorities spoke with Patrice Crowder, of Berwyn, who said she was trying to get a roll of quarters before heading to the bank to make a deposit. According to the police report, Crowder said she got the bill when a man she did not know asked her if she could break a $100 bill. Crowder allegedly told the man she only had $53, but that he agreed to the trade.
“Crowder then stated she did not know that the bill was counterfeit,” police said in their report.
The woman allegedly became irate when police told her they would have to seize the bill, and began screaming obscenities as she walked away. Investigators were not done questioning her, and attempted to get her to calm down and stay put. Crowder allegedly shoved one of the officers.
She was charged with felony aggravated battery for allegedly pushing the officer, along with two counts of resisting arrest.
Armed men snag purse
Two women had left a party July 25 and were walking north on the 500 block of Beloit when they were allegedly approached by two unidentified men, one of whom was carrying a black revolver.
It was shortly before 10 p.m. when one of the suspects grabbed a purse that one of the women was carrying over her shoulder, according to a department report, and tried to rip it from her grasp. The woman resisted and pleaded for him not to take it, but with a firm tug the handle broke and the men ran toward a minivan that was parked nearby.
According to police, the woman whose purse was taken did not see a weapon, but the other woman said she saw a gun, and that it remained pointed toward the ground during the altercation. Neither of the men said anything during the alleged robbery.
Police did not have any suspects immediately in custody.
Fighting over spilled beer
Shortly before 2 a.m. on July 24, two women in their early 20s were taken into custody outside of a Madison Street bar for allegedly brawling on the sidewalk after one of the women spilled beer on the other.
Lisa Murata, 22, was beating Bridget Brennan, 21, about the head with her fists, according to a department report. When a responding officer commanded the two to stop, they did not, and it wasn’t until the officer pulled Murata off the other woman that the punching ceased.
Brennan told police that she had been drinking at Duffy’s when Murata “accidentally spilled a small amount of beer on her shirt,” police said in their report. Brennan then told Murata to step outside and demanded an apology. Murata refused and allegedly grabbed Brennan by the hair and started beating her.
Murata told police a similar story, only that she hadn’t realized she spilled any beer and that Brennan started the altercation by shoving her.
Neither of the women, both standing 5-feet 3-inches tall and weighing about 115 pounds, wanted to press charges. Police cited them with ordinance violations for fighting in public and resisting arrest.
The pregnancy, not the beer
It was just after 1 a.m. July 25 when police noticed 29-year-old Martrice Yarbrough, of Chicago, squatting next to a vehicle on Roosevelt Road and urinating. After she pulled her pants up, the officer asked for identification so he could cite her for the offense. Yarbrough, however, explained that she is pregnant and after consuming two beers at a nearby bar, she couldn’t wait. The pregnancy, she said, ratchets up the urgency whenever she feels the need to urinate.
Teens caught with beer
A group of Oak Park and River Forest teens were busted for using fake IDs to purchase beer from a Madison Street liquor store July 23.
According to police, the teens were caught in the parking lot of USA Beverage just before midnight when an officer suspected that the passengers seated in a car outside the store were not of legal drinking age.
Joel Horras, 19, was cited for possession of alcohol and using a false identification. Lilya Ouskel, 19; Joseph O’Rourke, 18; and Nathaniel Brady, 19, were cited for possession and consumption of alcohol. Eugenia O’Dell-Hughes, 19, was cited for possession of marijuana and possession of alcohol.
These items were taken from the records of the Forest Park Police Department between July 19 and July 26, 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 have not been adjudicated.
-Compiled by Josh Adams
