A sex offender with a last known address in Forest Park was arrested Nov. 16 for failing to provide authorities with regular updates as to his whereabouts. George Smith, 56, had informed police here in October 2007 that he was living on the 7700 block of Wilcox, but had not registered since. Under state law, Smith is required to check in with local police at least on an annual basis.
According to a department report, Smith was taken into custody by security personnel at the Hines VA Hospital where he may have been volunteering. A former neighbor of Smith’s told police that the man was no longer living next door, and suggested they check with the hospital. While in custody, Smith declined to answer questions posed by investigators, according to a department report. However, he did provide police with a Chicago address, and said he had been living there for about 18 months.
Smith was charged with a felony for not informing authorities of his new address. As of Nov. 23, the state’s online sex offender register had not been updated with Smith’s new address.
Dispute over potty time
A man who had apparently occupied a Dunkin’ Donuts restroom for 20 minutes during the early morning hours of Nov. 16 was about to receive a minor citation after the store’s clerk called police, but instead was slapped with a pair of misdemeanors when he gave the officer a hard time.
The Dunkin’ Donuts is at 7200 Circle Ave.
Drew Griffin, 24, of Chicago, did not respond when the coffee shop clerk knocked on the bathroom door, according to a department report, so an officer was asked to make sure the man was OK. Just as the officer was approaching the door, however, it opened and out stepped Griffin. Police asked how he was feeling, and Griffin responded by asking why the officer would ask him that. Griffin and the clerk began arguing, and Griffin accused the officer of harassing him over using the bathroom.
Griffin then allegedly gave police a fake name and birth date, and told the officer he had never been issued any form of identification by the state. The officer explained he simply was writing a minor ticket and that Griffin would not be arrested. The suspect then gave a Chicago address that could not be verified. He was taken into custody, fingerprinted and charged with resisting arrest and trespassing.
Hit-and-run suspect arrested
An 18-year-old Oak Park driver told police he freaked out after striking two other vehicles along Harlem on Nov. 16, and fled the scene because he was scared. Authorities caught up with Jacob Smith in Oak Park at about 4 p.m., just moments after the accident occurred near the intersection with Washington. The drivers of the two other cars involved in the accident were able to identify Smith as the person who hit them, according to a department report, and he was taken into custody.
Smith was charged with leaving the scene of an accident and driving while his license was suspended. No injuries were mentioned in the department report.
Knife prompts heroin discovery
When police stopped a driver for not using his turn signal as he left Thornton’s gas station on Harlem, they saw that his hand was bleeding and a large hunting knife was hanging from the rearview mirror, according to a department report. Though no charges were filed in connection with the blade, the driver was arrested on a drug possession charge after police allegedly found 21 grams of heroin in his pocket.
The stop was made Nov. 22 at 5 p.m., and after spotting the driver’s bleeding hand and the knife, he was asked to step out of the car. Marc Perry, of Bartlett, was searched to make sure he wasn’t carrying any other weapons. In Perry’s shirt pocket, however, were 64 smaller packages of heroin.
Convicted felon charged in theft
Three men and a young woman were taken into custody Nov. 20 after police allegedly caught them stealing six bottles of alcohol from the CVS store located in the 7200 block of Circle. Only one of the suspects, 31-year-old Mario Donald, of Maywood, was charged in the incident after police determined from the store’s surveillance system that Donald was responsible for taking the liquor.
Donald was convicted of armed robbery in 1996 and sentenced to 20 years in prison, according to police. Because of his criminal background he was charged with a felony.
Several of the suspects in the incident told police they had traveled to Chicago to buy heroin, but that the drugs they purchased were “no good.”
These items were taken from the records of the Forest Park Police Department between Nov. 15 and Nov. 22, 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
