A Forest Park man was arrested early Oct. 8 and charged with a felony after police found a loaded, .22-caliber revolver in his pants pocket while searching him.
Twenty-three-year-old Walter Toles was stopped on the 700 block of Harlem Avenue for a traffic violation. Police asked him out of the car when he told them he didn’t have a license or any proof of insurance.
Before searching Toles, the reporting officer asked the suspect if he had anything illegal on him. According to a police report, Toles said, “I have a gun in my pocket.”
Toles was immediately handcuffed, the report states, and taken to headquarters.
During a police interview at the station, Toles told police he had purchased the vehicle from a friend that day and that he had its title inside the car. He also said he bought the gun “off the streets” from a friend for $50.
Toles received a felony charge for unlawful use of a weapon. He was also charged with having no registration for the car, operating an uninsured motor vehicle, and driving with a suspended license.
In addition, he was charged for having two in-state warrants for failure to appear at hearings related to separate charges of driving while his license was suspended.
Public fight results in gun charge
A fight that occurred near the CTA Blue Line Forest Park station early Oct. 16 resulted in a weapons charge against one of the individuals who was present during the incident.
Police were called to break up a fight at the 711 Desplaines Ave. station, and when they arrived, they found two men on the ground, rolling around and punching each other.
The men, Jose Dominguez, 26, of Berwyn, and Jesse Alvarado, 19, of Cicero were ordered to stop fighting and complied with the command.
According to a report, Alvarado was bleeding from his hand and Dominguez’s knuckles were cut.
Officers made several attempts to interview Dominguez, Alvarado and a woman who was present, Leticia Alvarado (reportedly Jesse’s sister and Dominguez’s boyfriend), to find out what happened, but they all refused to discuss the incident in detail.
As police tried to probe the suspects for information, a man who said he witnessed the fight told police that he saw Leticia run and hide something in some nearby bushes. The man then advised the officer to search the bushes.
The officer did so and discovered a .380 caliber handgun.
Jesse Alvarado was cited for public fighting, as was Jose Dominguez, and Leticia Alvarado was charged with unlawful use of a weapon.
Woman with heroin says she stopped
Officers arrested a Riverside woman on the night of Oct. 8, after they reportedly found a gram of heroin in her possession, along with two syringes.
According to a police report, 41-year-old Andrea Bax was slumped over the wheel of her car, which was parked in the southwest corner of the Thornton’s gas station, 601 Harlem Ave.
When police arrived at the station, Bax began to exit the car, at which point a bag of heroin fell from her lap onto the ground.
Police performed a name check and learned she was driving with a suspended license. She was arrested and taken to headquarters.
Bax spoke with police at the station and told them the heroin belonged to a homeless friend she had given a ride to (previously, she said she was on her way home from a funeral in Calumet City).
She said she had stopped using heroin in August, which is when she was last arrested.
Bax was charged with possessing a controlled substance, operating an uninsured motor vehicle, having no registration and driving with a suspended license.
Drunk driver hits car, kicks officer
An Oak Park woman was arrested on Oct. 10 after she allegedly struck a car near the Adams Street and Elgin Avenue intersection and then fled the scene.
When police caught up to 21-year-old Meghan Pogvara near Oak Park Avenue and Madison Street in Oak Park and tried to interview her, she reportedly cursed at the officers and refused to cooperate
Pogvara denied having anything to do with the accident in Forest Park, but the officer saw “white paint transfer marks” on her vehicle, indicating that she had sideswiped a car.
Pogvara was ordered out of the car and eventually handcuffed when the reporting officer smelled a “strong odor” of alcohol.
Throughout the field interview, police reported, Pogvara belligerently cursed at them and even kicked one officer in the ribs, after he tried to take her cellphone from her because she was attempting to make phone calls while in the backseat of the squad car.
Eventually, she was taken to headquarters and submitted to a Breathalyzer test, which registered a blood-alcohol-content level of .179.
She was arrested and charged with two counts of DUI; and single counts, each, of hit and run and battery.
Woman is mugged on Ferdinand
On the night of Oct. 12, a woman who was walking on the 400 block of Ferdinand Avenue was reportedly pushed to the ground by two unidentified suspects.
According to a police report, the offenders ran up from behind the woman and pushed her down. One of the suspects grabbed the victim’s purse as she fell and then the two offenders fled northbound on Ferdinand Avenue.
Police did not return a call for comment about further developments.
Passenger has brass knuckles
A Forest Park man was arrested on the morning of Oct. 14 after police found a pair of brass knuckles in his possession during a traffic stop on the 1200 block of Marengo Avenue.
Kenneth Wilkins, 21, was a passenger in a car that was stopped for a vehicle violation; both he and the driver were ordered out of the car when the driver told police he didn’t have his license on him.
Before police searched Wilkins, he was asked if he had any contraband, to which he replied, “Yeah, I got brass knuckles in my pocket.”
Wilkins was arrested and charged with unlawful use of a weapon, and the driver was released from the scene without charges.
Heroin possession
Vickie Edmonds, 54, of Chicago, was arrested on drug charges, Oct. 16, after police pulled her over for having a suspended license and learned later that she had heroin in her possession.
Edmonds’ car was stopped on the 7400 block of Roosevelt Road and she was placed in custody for driving with the suspended license.
When she was taken to headquarters, an officer who was searching her reportedly found a small bag of heroin and a straw in Edmonds’ possession. There was about a gram of heroin in the bag.
Edmonds was charged with possessing a controlled substance, possessing drug equipment, operating an uninsured motor vehicle and driving with a suspended license.
Bike thief caught in act
Police responding to the report of a stolen bicycle on the morning of Oct. 11 arrested Julius Cook, 26, of Cicero, near the CTA Blue Line Forest Park station.
According to the report, Cook fit the suspect description that police were given and an officer spotted him leaving the 711 Desplaines Ave. station on the bike – a green Schwinn Voyageur.
Cook was stopped and searched, and police found a pair of wire cutters on him. He was arrested and charged with retail theft.
These items were obtained from the records of the Forest Park Police Department, Oct. 8-16, and represent only a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Unless otherwise indicated, anyone named in the report has only been charged with a crime.
-Compiled by Nick Moroni
