Ambitious shoplifter caught with heist

A 46-year-old woman from Chicago filled her cart with $271.14 worth of goods at Walmart on Roosevelt Road around 4 p.m. on Sept. 9 and then was observed by loss-prevention agents placing approximately 40 items into empty Walmart shopping bags and wheeling her cart out of the store. Among the items recovered by police were several pillows, a man’s belt, slippers, an 88 cent novel, several two-piece clothing sets, Gain laundry detergent, toilet gel, deodorants, school supplies and a hand-held calculator. She was charged with shoplifting and released on bond.

Liquor store clerk wields metal pipe

A female clerk at USA Liquors averted an armed robbery, Sept. 2 around 6:15 p.m., when she screamed and swung a piece of metal pipe kept behind the counter at a man who was pointing a handgun at her. The man and his accomplice had entered the store, and one displayed a black handgun while the other attempted to walk behind the counter. When the metal pipe appeared, the two turned and fled, running eastbound across Harlem. The men were described as African Americans, age 27, one thin and one heavy build, wearing baseball caps, T-shirts, jeans and gloves.

Forest Park and Oak Park police got word from Oak Park Hospital that a man matching the description of one of the offenders had entered the hospital and asked for a pass to the second floor. He allegedly slipped past hospital security and disappeared.

Car burglaries and thefts

Three cars were burglarized and one stolen overnight on Aug. 30 in the 500 and 600 blocks of Circle and the 7200 block of Adams. Owners found their car doors open with dome lights on. Glove compartments and consoles were ransacked and items such as loose change, DVDs, phones and car stereos were stolen. The stolen vehicle was a dark blue 2002 Chevy Prism with two bumper stickers on the rear bumper. Jewelry and personal papers were stolen with the car.

Two of the burglarized cars exhibited no signs of forced entry and one had a stripped driver’s side lock. There was no evidence of broken glass near the scene of the stolen car.

‘Woo woo’ and ‘tweaking’ cause crash

Police were summoned to investigate a hit-and-run accident in the rain near the 7400 block of Madison Street around 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 5. They found an abandoned green 1997 Jeep Cherokee stopped in the middle of nearby Burkhardt Street with a flat driver’s side tire. A call came in that two men were causing a disturbance in front of a saloon nearby, and police found one man standing shirtless in the rain in the middle of Madison yelling into a cellphone. The man, age 25 from Maywood, denied driving or being involved with the car, but a second man, age 23 from Melrose Park, when asked if the car belonged to him, reportedly said, “Kinda.”

The Maywood man allegedly told police his friend was driving him to Bellwood and an argument ensued about money. One friend yelled “woo woo” and “tweaked” the driver, causing him to lose control and crash. Police recovered two open 375 ml bottles of Hennessy Cognac from the front of the vehicle. Both men showed signs of intoxication and neither had a valid driver’s license. Police charged them both with driving on suspended licenses, illegal parking, transportation of open liquor and operating an uninsured vehicle.

Full moon at el stop

A man complained to police that a 51-year-old Oak Park man, who appeared to be highly intoxicated at the Forest Park Blue Line terminus, pulled off his sweatshirt, pulled down his pants, and yelled, “Kiss my ass” around 10 p.m. on Sept. 9.

The victim told police that children were standing nearby waiting at the bus stop and that when he asked the mooner to pull up his pants, the man became threatening and behaved in a menacing manner. Police interviewed the apparently intoxicated man, who reportedly only chuckled and repeated the phrase, “Vote Republican.”

The first man told police he saw the second man almost daily on the el and that he was always intoxicated. He wanted to press charges. The second man was charged with assault and disorderly conduct.

These items were obtained from the records of the Forest Park Police Department, Aug. 30-Sept. 9, and represent 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 Jean Lotus