Four Chicagoans are accused of participating in a fraudulent check-cashing scheme after several arrests were made outside the local Walmart on the night of June 3.
Two people were initially stopped in the Walmart parking lot, 1300 Desplaines Ave., for a vehicular violation. The driver had a suspended license and was arrested on the spot. The owner of the vehicle, Scott Patterson, 26, was placed in custody after the officer saw that the date on the car’s registration had been altered.
A search of the car turned over numerous Versacheck-brand bankroll checks that were handwritten to a number of people. According to the police report, there are several open cases of persons who allegedly attempted to cash fraudulent Versacheck checks at Walmart.
Two subjects were also found inside Walmart, attempting to cash the same type of checks found in Patterson’s car. The checks were made out to two men, 22-year-old Vonta Brooks and 21-year-old Emery Oliver. When police contacted Versacheck, the company said the account number on both checks belongs to a pension fund, and neither was listed as a payment recipient.
Man caught with kilo of weed in trunk
A Lombard man was arrested on the night of June 2 after police discovered close to a kilo of marijuana in his car.
Thirty-four-year-old Jervon Wall was pulled over on Lexington Street and Marengo Avenue for committing a traffic violation, but police ordered him out of the car after smelling a “strong odor of cannabis emitting from the vehicle.”
Wall told the reporting officer he had marijuana in the center console, when he was asked if there was anything illegal in the car.
The inside of the car was searched, and 8 grams of marijuana were found in the console. But according to the officer, the odor of cannabis was “overwhelming” near the trunk.
Wall was asked again if there was any more marijuana in the car, and at that point he reportedly said there was “weed” in the trunk.
When authorities popped the trunk, they found a large brown paper bag. Inside the bag they reportedly found 1,121 grams of pot.
Wall was arrested and taken to headquarters where he was cited for two cannabis control offenses and charged with possession with intent to deliver over 30 grams. He was also charged with two counts of failure to signal.
Drunk driver ‘sweating out’ the booze
Police arrested a highly intoxicated Oak Park man on the morning of June 5 after stopping him for a traffic violation at Harlem Avenue and Pleasant Street in Oak Park.
According to the police report, 43-year-old Curtis Boyden strongly smelled of alcohol when he was pulled over at 7:30 a.m., Sunday morning. His speech was slurred and his eyes were bloodshot.
When the officer asked Boyden if he had been drinking, Boyden said he was still “sweating out” the vodka he had drunk between 6 p.m. and midnight the previous night. He also said he had slept for several hours after he ceased drinking at midnight.
He was ordered out of the car and asked to perform field sobriety tests. The officer reportedly observed Boyden shaking his head uncontrollably – a sign of Delirium Tremens (alcohol withdrawal), and, when asked, Boyden confirmed he was going through withdrawal.
The suspect said he was unable to perform the tests because of health problems, so the officer arrested him and took him to headquarters.
While there, Boyden eventually submitted to a Breathalyzer, which recorded his blood-alcohol-content level at .306 – the test was performed at 8:30 a.m., an hour after he was stopped. The legal limit is .08.
Boyden was charged with two counts of DUI and single counts of seatbelt violation, speeding and failure to signal.
Goin’ ’round in Circles
A 24-year-old Chicago man, who was reportedly high on PCP and marijuana, was arrested late June 3 after continuously driving around in circles on Harlem Avenue and Randolph Street and then crashing his car into a gas station sign.
When the reporting officer arrived, Nelson’s car had crashed into the sign at the 7-Eleven gas station at 205 Harlem Ave.
Nelson was immediately placed in custody, but while the officers were on scene, they interviewed several witnesses who reportedly stated that Nelson was also walking around in circles in the Dunkin Donuts parking lot, 925 Harlem Ave., before he got into his car.
Nelson received medical attention at an unspecified location, where traces of THC (found in marijuana) and phencyclidine (PCP) were present in his bloodstream.
During an interview with police, Nelson said he only remembered going to a friend’s house in Maywood, driving home and then waking up in the hospital.
Nelson was charged with two counts of improper lane usage and single counts of DUI, operating an uninsured motor vehicle, an Illinois traffic code violation and reckless driving.
Teen arrested for car burglaries
A Chicago teen was linked to the alleged robberies of several vehicles in Oak Park and Forest Park after he reportedly told a River Forest officer that he committed the crimes.
The teen reportedly broke into a car parked in Forest Park at 1401 Harlem Ave., early June 2, and took a digital camera, a GPS device, $10 in quarters and a radio face.
It is not clear why the River Forest officer stopped him, but the teen reportedly had the items on him. He also told the officer that he committed the crime and similar robberies in Oak Park as well.
Forest Park authorities charged the boy with burglary of a motor vehicle while he was in the custody of Oak Park police.
These items were taken from the records of the Forest Park Police Department between May 28 and June 5, 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 Nick Moroni
