Police stopped a local man for speeding at the intersection of Harlem Avenue and 16th Street, Sept. 9, then arrested him after discovering he had no license or insurance, had marijuana in the car and was driving with an infant who was only secured in the backseat with a seatbelt.
Nineteen-year-old Dante Lewis was ordered out of the car, at which point, the reporting officer saw a 1-year-old in the backseat.
The infant had only a seatbelt on. The shoulder strap was placed behind the child, according to police.
The officers searched the car and also found an unspecified amount of marijuana.
Lewis was arrested and charged with operating an uninsured motor vehicle, not having a driver’s license, a cannabis control offense, and a seatbelt violation.
Reckless conduct lands man in jail
Police arrested a Chicago man for reckless conduct, early Sept. 11, after spotting him standing in the road on Harlem Avenue, near the CTA Green Line stop, yelling profanities at drivers passing by.
The reporting officer told 48-year-old Delbert Mattox to get out of the road so he wouldn’t get hit. Mattox responded by cursing at the officer, so he was arrested for reckless conduct, according to police.
While searching Mattox, the officer found a metal tube that resembled a crack pipe; a pipe cleaner was also found.
Mattox was taken to headquarters, where he reportedly told police his name was Rolo Zulu and that he was born on Sept. 11, 2009.
Police were able to determine his identity by doing a fingerprint inquiry; Mattox was then charged with reckless conduct, obstructing justice and possession of drug equipment.
Retail theft suspect’s past results in felony
A Chicago man with an armed robbery conviction was slapped with a felony charge of retail theft after he allegedly tried to steal $200 worth of merchandise from the local Walmart on the night of Sept. 10.
Thirty-six-year-old Gregory Turner was observed by a Walmart security guard walking around various store displays and stuffing items into a Walmart bag. The security guard stopped Turner as he was trying to leave the 1300 Desplaines Ave. store and recovered 21 pieces of merchandise in the bag.
Police were called and Turner was arrested and charged with retail theft. According to the police report, Cook County State’s Attorney Tamerla Eleby approved the felony charge because Turner was convicted of armed robbery in 2006.
Theft and underage drinking
An Oak Park woman was arrested after she was accused of stealing money from a woman’s purse at a local bar, early Sept. 10. Police also discovered she was underage.
Police responded to a disturbance call at Doc Ryan’s, 7432 Madison St., and spoke with a woman who alleged that she observed 20-year-old Rebecca Magnuson take her purse from the DJ booth and then put it back. When the purse’s owner checked, $200 was missing, she told police.
Magnusson told police she grabbed the purse because she thought it was her friend’s. When she realized it wasn’t her friend’s, she returned it to the DJ booth, Magnusson said.
She was arrested when an officer checked her ID and saw she was underage. According to the report, her eyes were bloodshot and glassy and her speech was slurred.
Magnusson was arrested and charged with illegal consumption and theft under $300.
Car linked to cartel?
A self-admitted gang member from Maywood, arrested for several driving offenses on the afternoon of Sept. 3, allegedly admitted he had ties to a Mexican drug cartel.
Mario Hernandez, 36, was stopped on Roosevelt Road and First Avenue after an officer ran the car’s registration and discovered it was expired. Hernandez also did not have a valid license or any insurance.
As a result, he was arrested and taken to headquarters. Hernandez told police he recently bought the vehicle from his cousin’s girlfriend in Texas and had not gotten around to changing the registration.
Hernandez also said that he is a longtime Latin King and that his cousin was a member of the Juarez Cartel in Mexico. He added that, in the past, the car had probably been used to smuggle drugs across the Mexico-U.S. border.
Police then used the department’s drug-sniffing K9, Bear, to search for narcotics in the car. The report did not mention if the dog found anything.
Hernandez was charged with driving with a suspended license, operating an uninsured motor vehicle, and having an expired registration.
These items were obtained from the records filed by the Forest Park Police Department, Sept. 3-11, and represent only a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Unless otherwise indicated, anyone named in this report has only been charged with a crime.
-Compiled by Nick Moroni
