Motherlode of heroin found in rental car
Police observed a driver speeding westbound on Jackson from Harlem around 4 p.m., June 19 in a 2012 Chevy Malibu. Activating emergency lights, an officer observed the driver, Myron Bea, 37, of Bellwood making “furtive movements” leaning low between the driver’s side door and the center console. The vehicle was found to be registered to Hertz rental company. Bea told officers his father had just rented the car because the two were going fishing the next day. Officers searched the car and recovered three clear baggies containing a white chunky substance that tested positive for heroin. The total amount recovered was 185 grams. Bea was charged with possession of a narcotic substance with intent to deliver.
Tombstone-toting terror
Police arrived in the 1900 block of South Desplaines Avenue, June 22, after numerous calls around 1:47 p.m. about a suspicious person in traffic, jumping out at cars. Officers saw the man in the road, blocking traffic — and carrying a marble grave marker. The man seemed to police to be highly irrational, very drunk and verbally threatening, so they handcuffed him and placed him in a squad car. At the scene, a witness approached to say he was driving his wife and two young children on Desplaines Avenue when the man jumped in front of his vehicle and started kicking the windows. Then the manager of Woodlawn Funeral Home arrived and identified the marble gravestone as funeral home property. The 40-year-old Chicago man was charged with theft, disorderly conduct and being a pedestrian under the influence.
Chased across the river
Two 14-year-old juveniles were arrested in Maywood and charged with theft and resisting arrest around 10:45 p.m., June 17, after being chased across the bridge from Van Buren Street in Forest Park on the bike path.
Officers responded to the report of a robbery at the 711 Desplaines Blue Line terminus and interviewed a 49-year-old victim, who said three young men had approached him while he was talking on a cellphone and snatched a wallet from his hands. Police observed three male juveniles running westbound on the bike path across the bridge from Forest Park to Maybrook Drive. A Forest Park officer was waiting on the other side to detain them. The victim identified the two boys to Forest Park police. Neither boy had the wallet in his possession when they were taken into custody. The boys told police they were walking home and had no connection to the theft, but a recording from the back of the squad car implicated them when they conversed about the events, police said.
Drivers behaving badly
Forest Park police arrested a 43-year-old Palatine man who came to their attention around 1:15 a.m., June 18, when observed talking on a cellphone and speeding as he drove his 2005 Chevy Malibu near Harvard Street and the I-290 Expressway. He was found to be driving with a suspended license and was unable to present proof of insurance. He was charged with unlawful cellphone use and speeding. The Malibu was impounded.
A 45-year-old Chicago driver who failed to yield for a pedestrian at Madison Street and Circle Avenue around 3:15 p.m., June 18, was found to be driving his 1998 Lincoln Continental with a suspended license. His car was impounded and he was given two tickets.
Disappearing bikes, untethered and tethered
In the 7400 block of Madison, a man told police his bicycle was stolen from behind the rear entrance of the building. He said he left it unlocked and unattended for half an hour while he was inside a store.
In the 1400 block of Elgin Avenue, at 7:45 p.m., a woman reported seeing two male teens behind her residence work together to steal a bike. One, she said, stood lookout, while the other jumped the backyard fence and stole a girl’s purple Trek mountain bike. They then fled south through the alley with their prize. Officers stopped the suspects at 8 p.m. at a gas station in Berwyn at Oak Park Avenue and 16th Street. The victim arrived and positively identified the men and the bike. One of the suspects, a Cicero man, told police he met the other teen at his aunt’s place in Forest Park then went with him to McDonald’s in Berwyn on Roosevelt. As they walked down the alley, the other man saw the bike and jumped over the fence to get it so that he would have a way to get home to Cicero. Both were charged with theft.
Police said it looked like a key had been used to remove a light blue Men’s 26-inch Schwinn from the spot where it had been locked to a parking meter sometime between June 13 and 16 near the intersection of Elgin and Roosevelt. The bike, worth $200, had been secured with a kryptonite lock which was still locked and attached to the meter, police said.
Shoplifting with the kids
Police were summoned to Schauer’s Hardware, 7449 Madison St., around 5:17 p.m., June 20, after store employees observed a 27-year-old woman with two small children allegedly shoplifting merchandise. Employees said they saw the woman leave the shop, and as she did, the merchandise alarm sounded and a hand power tool dropped from the woman’s clothing. She left the shop and entered the McDonald’s at Desplaines and Madison. Police found the mother and her offspring in the fast food restaurant, where she admitted being in the hardware store but insisted, “I didn’t take anything.” From the ladies room garbage can, an officer recovered a bottle of Tide detergent and a chrome “drenching” shower head, still in the packaging. The woman was charged with retail theft, resisting arrest and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She also had an in-state warrant.
Purse purloined during pool game
A woman told police her purse, containing a cellphone and wallet with money, disappeared as she played pool at the Shortstop Lounge around 2:44 a.m., June 21. She said she saw three men leave the bar and followed them outside, where she confronted them. A cellphone dropped to the ground, but she told police she couldn’t tell which of the three had it in his possession. She found her purse lying in a village flower box nearby. Police arrested a 25-year-old Berwyn man, identified by witnesses and the victim, and charged him with theft.
These items were obtained from the records of the Forest Park Police Department, June 15-20, 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
