3 a.m. armed robbery at Thornton’s
Police were summoned after a female cashier at Thornton’s, 601 S. Harlem, was held up by two men wearing rubber gloves who displayed two guns around 3 a.m. on Sept. 24. The first man allegedly pointed a black semi-automatic pistol at the cashier and told a customer standing by the fountain drinks to “get down on the ground.” A second offender, a male also wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses reportedly pistol-whipped the customer with the silver pistol, striking him on the left side of his forehead and causing a small cut.
The first offender allegedly demanded that the cashier open all of the cash registers and pile the money on the counter. He swept the money into a black plastic bag. He also demanded that she open a safe under the counter, but she told him the safe had a time-delay of 10 minutes before it would open. He reportedly demanded that she place two cartons of Newport cigarettes into the bag and the two fled in what appeared on video to be an older model tan or gold Buick.
Police described the two offenders as a male, black, in his 30s, wearing a peach button-down shirt and tie with a Chicago Bulls baseball cap, sunglasses and a goatee, and a Hispanic male in his 30s also wearing a black baseball cap, sunglasses and a hoodie.
Thief chased across the Ike
A 29-year-old man from Matteson was allegedly caught in the act, removing a catalytic converter with a cutting device from a truck at the U-Haul facility at Harrison and Harlem around 4:30 a.m. on Sept. 25. When the man saw police approaching, he reportedly fled, jumping over a fence and running onto the freight train tracks north of Harrison. He was seen by police hiding under a bridge north of the train tracks, and then reportedly fled back and forth across the I-290 Expressway twice before police ran down the embankment north of the Forest Park pool and apprehended him. He was found with a flashlight, a black stocking, and a pair of dirty rubber gloves on his person. A car registered to his name was parked near the U-Haul lot. A black duffel bag beside the car reportedly held one catalytic converter and a second was beside the bag. He allegedly told police that the U-Haul was known as “catalytic converter heaven” but refused to tell officers where he had hidden his “sawzall” cutting tool because he said, “that’s my moneymaker.” He also declined to tell police where he sold stolen catalytic converters. He was charged with felony theft. Damage was estimated at $1,372.
Number two on the Blue Line
Police were summoned around 6 a.m. on Sept. 27 after CTA security said a man had defecated in the car of a newly arrived train at the Forest Park Blue Line terminus and was becoming aggressive. The man, apparently highly intoxicated, allegedly threatened a CTA employee, saying he would, “kick his ass all over this train” and would “bring a pack of people up to this station to beat his ass.” The man, a 41-year-old from Chicago, was charged with aggravated assault to a transit employee, disorderly conduct and criminal trespass.
Caught with heroin at Thornton’s
Police observed a maroon 2002 Dodge carryall pulling out of the Thornton’s gas station across the sidewalk and curb and onto Harlem Avenue around 4 p.m. on Sept. 25. When officers curbed the car, police observed that the hands of the 21-year-old driver from Palatine were shaking uncontrollably. When he offered to park the car on Harlem and get a ride home, officers asked the two to exit the car. During a safety pat-down, officers reportedly recovered a grey Chesterfield glasses case containing one hypodermic needle, an eye-drop bottle, a metal cap with a burnt underside, five baggies containing an off-white powder later found to be heroin, and five empty baggies with heroin residue. Under the seat was a full hypodermic needle loaded with cooked heroin. The driver and his companion, 22, of Northbrook, reportedly told police they bought 31 bags of heroin for $200 in Chicago and then stopped at Thornton’s to get gas. They were charged with possession of narcotics and drug equipment.
Burglar defeats safe, deadbolts
A burglar broke into a home in the 1000 block of Hannah during the day on Sept. 28 by breaking a padlock on a crawlspace door and entering the house through a window in the crawlspace. The intruder evidently then defeated a deadbolt on a locked bedroom door, ransacked the room and stole two gold bowling championship rings from the Illinois Bowling Congress and American Bowling Congress. The offender then broke open a safe, stealing an unreported amount of cash. A neighbor told police she heard a banging sound around 4 p.m. which could have been a door being kicked in.
Garage burglary
Someone broke into a garage in the 800 block of Hannah, overnight Sept. 26, by prying open the side service door and smashing the passenger’s side window of a 2010 Toyota Prius. Reported stolen from the car was a WYSE laptop computer and coach computer bag valued at $450 and a pair of Dolce & Gabana sunglasses.
These items were obtained from the records of the Forest Park Police Department, Sept. 24-30, 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
