Two Forest Park men were arrested on the night of July 24 in connection with the theft of a car boot, pried from a vehicle at an unspecified location.
An officer patrolling the 1100 block of Harlem Avenue noticed 27-year-old Mario Kendall and 37-year-old Mshai Hekau standing in a garage. The officer reported that he is familiar with Kendall from “several previous contacts,” and because the department wanted to question him about the theft of the boot. So the officer turned his patrol car around and approached the garage.
During the time it took the officer to get to the garage, Kendall hid, and when Hekau was asked where Kendall was, he said he didn’t know. Backup was called, and officers found Kendall hiding under a mattress.
In the end, both suspects were apprehended and taken to headquarters.
At the station, Kendall told police the boot could be found in Maywood; it was later recovered and police confirmed it was the one they were looking for.
The boot was reportedly placed on a car that Kendall was borrowing to “do body work.” It was pried off the wheel and damaged, although the repair cost was not known when the officer filed the report.
Kendall was charged with three counts of resisting arrest and single counts, each, of theft (under $300), obstructing justice and criminal damage to property.
Self-described addict busted with 4 grams of heroin
A South Elgin man was busted for drug possession, the afternoon of July 24, after an officer arrested him for driving on a suspended license and then found several bags of heroin in his car.
An officer tailing 26-year-old Lewis Campbell pulled him over after running a computer check on Campbell’s registration and learning his license was suspended.
When the officer curbed the car on the 600 block of Harlem Avenue, Campbell reportedly got out, walked toward the squad car and admitted his license was suspended. Subsequently, Campbell was arrested and when an officer searched Campbell’s car, he discovered 13 bags of heroin, totaling 4 grams.
Campbell was taken to headquarters where he told police he is addicted to heroin and uses 13 bags a day, according to the report. He said he bought the heroin at Madison Street and Austin Boulevard in Chicago, and that he drives to the city twice a week to buy drugs.
Campbell was charged with possessing a controlled substance, operating an uninsured motor vehicle, and driving with a suspended license.
Arrests for warrant and vehicular offenses
Police arrested a Cicero man and a Burr Ridge woman on the morning of July 23 after finding out one was driving without a valid license and the other had an arrest warrant for an old drug charge.
Twenty-three-year-old Andrew Congelosi, the driver, was pulled over on the 7600 block of Roosevelt Road for a traffic violation and arrested when a computer check of his name proved he didn’t have a valid license.
The passenger, 23-year-old Ashley Wollschlaeger tried to give police a false name to hide an arrest warrant out of DuPage County. When her real name was discovered, police learned that the warrant was for failing to appear at a hearing related to a charge of heroin possession.
Congelosi was charged with driving with an expired license, failing to signal and operating an uninsured motor vehicle; and Wollschlaeger was charged with having the in-state warrant.
Arrested with ‘Blast’ of malt liquor
Police arrested a Bellwood teen, early July 23, after stopping him for traffic violations and finding open alcohol in his car.
Malik Thurman, 18, of Bellwood was stopped on the 7200 block of Circle Avenue after police witnessed him breaking traffic laws.
Inside his car, police found an open, 23.5 oz. can of grape-flavored Blast by Colt 45, a malt liquor beverage.
A Breathalyzer test was performed on Thurman, although the tests results were negative, according to police. Nonetheless, he was taken into custody for a number of offenses, among them: illegal possession by a minor, illegal transportation of alcohol, failure to signal and improper lane usage.
Police nab crack-smoking, battering roommate
A Forest Park man was arrested on the afternoon of July 20 over accusations that he repeatedly beat his former roommate in a drug-fueled state, police reported.
According to a police report, officers followed up on complaints by the former roommate that 28-year-old Burley Patterson beat him and stole from him.
When police arrived at Patterson’s residence on the 7200 block of Madison Street – which the complainant has since moved from – officers found Patterson and 40-year-old Robert Jones, of Chicago.
Patterson tried to hide in a bedroom and Jones attempted to flee out the backdoor, but both were apprehended. Inside the apartment, the officers found a crack pipe, a cannabis pipe and an unspecified amount of marijuana on Jones.
Patterson said the cannabis pipe was his but denied owning the crack pipe.
Details about how the case unfolded are not entirely clear – police and the Mayor’s Press Office did not return calls.
Both men were taken to the station, and Jones was cited for the cannabis and resisting arrest, while Patterson was slapped with two counts of battery and one count of possession of drug equipment.
Man arrested after driving ‘erratically’
A Chicago man was arrested, early July 19, for DUI after an officer noticed him driving “erratically” and tailed him until the suspect committed a traffic violation and was pulled over on the 900 block of Elgin Avenue.
Twenty-five-year-old Calixto Jaime reportedly had “bloodshot eyes” and “slurred speech” when the reporting officer approached Jaime’s car to talk to him. Jamie could not produce a driver’s license, so he gave the officer an Illinois Identification Card.
The officer checked Jaime’s name in a computer database and learned that his license was suspended.
He was then ordered out of the car and “advised … he was going to perform field sobriety tests,” all of which he failed. He was arrested and taken to headquarters, where he was charged with DUI, improper lane usage, having inoperative taillights, and driving with a suspended license.
These items were obtained from the records filed by the Forest Park Police Department, July 18-24, and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Unless otherwise indicated, anyone named in this report has only been charged with a crime. These cases have not been adjudicated.
-Compiled by Nick Moroni
