Gold coast partiers stiff, then rob, cabbie
A 54-year-old cab driver brought two men, 23 and 24 years old, whom he picked up on the Gold Coast in Chicago, to Forest Park around 4 a.m., Jan. 26. When they arrived at Madison and Marengo, the driver told police, the two men asked for change and then one of them said, “This is a stick up! Give me all your money.” The driver said he handed over $300 and the two ran into an alley. Officers picked up a 24-year-old man from Palatine a short time later walking alone. The cab driver identified him as one of the passengers. The suspect admitted to police that he had ridden in the cab, but insisted he did not rob anyone and did not have any money on his person. He made a phone call to a relative in Forest Park who brought over $300 plus another $40 for cab fare. The driver declined to press charges and the man was released without charges.
Man hurls change at CTA employee
An allegedly intoxicated man from Oak Park was arrested around 5:18 p.m. on Jan. 26 after a CTA employee told police he became irate when he observed a technician repairing the CTA card-vending machine. According to the victim, he began to scream obscenities about the CTA and then challenged a female employee to call police and threw a handful of change at her. He was transported to the Forest Park police station and charged with aggravated battery, disorderly conduct and criminal trespass.
Pregnant woman had coke in bra
Police stopped a couple from Rolling Meadows and Wheeling after observing their 2010 black Chevrolet turning into Thornton’s Gas Station in the 600 block of Harlem without signaling. As the officer questioned the driver, he observed in plain view a metal “crack pipe” on the car’s center console. Police performed a safety pat-down and recovered three plastic baggies containing “rocks” or crack cocaine from the 30-year-old driver. His female passenger, 42, from Wheeling told police she had “a couple of rocks in my bra.” At the station, the couple told police they had purchased the cocaine on the West Side of Chicago for $100. The woman said she was six weeks pregnant, and had “relapsed.” She reportedly told officers she needed to use cocaine because she just broke up with her boyfriend. The two were charged with possession of narcotics and drug paraphernalia.
Burglaries to vehicles
Someone shattered the passenger’s side windows of a parked 2007 Pontiac Bonneville parked in the 1200 block of Elgin, overnight on Jan. 27, and removed a Garmin GPS unit valued at $300.
A woman told police someone stole the catalytic converter from her 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee, parked in the 7300 block of Roosevelt Road between 2 and 3 p.m. on Jan. 22.
Overnight Jan. 18, someone stole a Sony laptop computer worth $1,700 and an MP3 player worth $250 from an unlocked Buick parked in the 200 block of Marengo.
Woman victimized by ‘lost wallet’ scam
A 26-year-old woman from Broadview told police she was approached at the Walmart parking lot at 1300 Desplaines Ave. by a male and female in their 40s who told her a story about a man’s wallet found in the street. The male told the victim that he had approached a man getting into his Lexus to return the wallet, but the man had yelled at him to “stay away,” and drove off. The man told the victim the wallet contained $900.
The female companion, who pretended not to know the man, confirmed that she too had seen the wallet drop. The man reportedly convinced the victim to come to Portillo’s, where he said he was employed, having recently “moved from Iowa.” The man went into the restaurant and when he returned, he told the victim and his female accomplice that his “boss” at Portillo’s had taken the wallet and found $9,000 worth of cashier’s checks inside.
The two convinced the victim that the boss would share the money, but that she needed to withdraw $500 from her own account. The female stranger entered the restaurant and when she came out, she said the boss had given her $750 to “keep quiet.” The victim then withdrew cash from an ATM machine at the 7 Eleven across the street, hoping she would be paid off as well. She was told she would get her reward in the women’s bathroom in two envelopes. But the reward never materialized and the two strangers disappeared.
Tool burglar interrupted
A workman, alone in an unoccupied house in the 7400 block of Warren around 10:15 a.m. on Jan. 22, reported that he heard a strange noise in the basement. He told police he walked down the stairs and discovered an unknown man carrying two tool kits from the tool storage room toward a pile of tool kits and screwguns. The worker confronted the man, demanding to know what he was doing. The man allegedly replied he was “looking for copper” and fled. The subject matched the description of another burglar seen stealing tools from a work truck earlier in the day in River Forest.
These items were obtained from the records of the Forest Park Police Department, Jan. 22-28, 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.
