Cell phone chatting gets drivers nabbed
Forest Park police observed the female driver of a 2002 Lincoln Continental yammering on a cell phone while traveling on westbound I-290 around 1:40 p.m. Aug. 25. When they curbed the car it came to light that the 38-year-old woman driving had no identification, but her passenger was a 24-year-old Chicago man who had an active warrant from the Cook County Sheriff’s Police and was on parole from the Illinois Department of Corrections. He was arrested and held for an outstanding warrant. The driver was released without charge.
A male driver age 40 from Chicago came to police attention while chatting on a cellphone in the Taco Bell drive-thru at 7557 Roosevelt Rd. around 12:30 a.m. Officers running his plate found he had a suspended license and the car was not insured. His 2011 Kia Sorrento was seized and he was charged with driving with license suspended, using a mobile device while driving and no proof of insurance.
River Forest drug bust
Forest Park police assisted in the execution of a narcotics search warrant of the home of Jamal Jones, 26, of 1551 Monroe St., River Forest. With River Forest police, cops recovered a cache of drugs, paraphernalia and cash. Officers found nine grams of cocaine, 130 grams of cannabis and an unspecified amount of money in Jones’s home. He was charged with manufacture and delivery of cocaine and cannabis, as well as possession of a controlled substance.
DUI
A 21-year-old Oak Park man was arrested and charged with DUI after he was seen driving his 2003 Volkswagen Passat without turn signaling around Harvard Street and Marengo Avenue at 2:13 a.m. Aug. 26. He was unable to provide his proof of insurance and failed field sobriety tests, which were recorded on dash cam by the police officers. Though he declined to blow into the Breathalyzer, he was charged with DUI, lack of insurance card and failure to signal.
Would be garage burglars slip away
A neighbor evidently spooked two men who entered a garage in the 1000 block of Thomas around 8:16 a.m. Aug. 26. After observing the men entering the open overhead door, the neighbor went into his own garage to call police. He then backed out his vehicle and pulled in front of the neighbor’s open garage, but the men had disappeared. Police noted the garage had been burglarized before and not repaired. They hypothesized someone could reach through a missing panel on the side service door and push open the garage door opener. The homeowner told police she had certainly locked the overhead door the night before. Police advised her to repair her door. No arrests were made.
Getting too close to the action
Police noticed a Jeep Grand Cherokee following as a squad car chased another vehicle around 1:18 p.m. in the 600 block of Lathrop Avenue. Officers pulled over the Jeep, which was carrying four passengers, one of whom was a 32-year-old Chicago man who had an outstanding warrant for his arrest from the Cook County Sheriff’s office for driving with license suspended. He was arrested and charged with a bond forfeiture warrant for failure to appear in court.
Whose bike is that?
The bicycle lying at a 21-year-old Hillside man’s feet as he sat on a bench near the Harlem Avenue Green Line Station came to the attention of Forest Park police around 1:30 a.m. Aug. 27. Knowing many bikes are stolen from the racks near the Green Line, officers asked for permission to examine the bike and run a serial number through the LEADs computer system. While doing so, an active warrant from the Chicago Police for possession of a controlled substance popped up and police took the man into custody to be held for CPD officers. The bike was held in Forest Park.
Sleeping off the weed
Forest Park police noted a man asleep in the driver’s seat of a 2003 black BMW parked in the McDonald’s parking lot, 420 Desplaines Avenue around 4:25 a.m. Aug. 27. When they did a well-being check, they noted a baggie containing a green leafy substance on the console of the BMW in plain sight. The driver, a 29-year-old from Wheaton, was issued a local ordinance ticket for possession of cannabis.
Bad convertible ride
An expired registration sticker on the rear plate of a 2010 black Lexus convertible led police to curb the car in the 1300 block of Desplaines Avenue around 1:45 p.m. Aug. 27. When they did, they found the male driver, age 26, from Maywood, had two active warrants from DuPage County for failure to appear for a DUI charge in May 2014 and contempt of court. The driver also had no driver’s license on his person. The driver was charged with expired registration and held for pickup by DuPage police. The convertible was left in the care of the man’s 67-year-old passenger, who drove it away.
Out sitting at Walgreens uncovers outstanding warrants
Forest Park police noticed a man sitting in a 2007 Chevy Aveo in the Walgreens parking lot at 7200 Roosevelt Rd. for an extended period around 3:10 p.m. Aug. 27. Running the Chevy’s plate, they noted that its owner, a Bellwood woman, had outstanding warrants from DuPage County for prostitution, domestic violence and theft. The man in the car said he was waiting for his girlfriend to come out of the drug store. Police entered the store, identified Terika D. Dilworth, 20, who identified herself and was taken into custody. The boyfriend also had two outstanding warrants, so both were transported to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago.
Bike switcharoo
A Forest Park police officer reported he arrived in Kmart, 7630 Roosevelt Rd. around 1:55 p.m. Aug. 28 just as an alarm sounded and a staff member told him an unknown man had taken a new bicycle, ripped the tags off and ridden out a fire escape door and into the inner mall. Staff told the officer the man had taken a second Mongoose bike from the rack, ripped off the tags and given it to a second man in the store. That man disappeared and the second bike was found in the store.
Officers found a 58 year old Maywood man matching the clothing and description of the bike thief riding an older mountain bike at the intersection of Dunlop and Desplaines Avenues. According to the reports, the man exhibited a “confrontational demeanor” and was “evasive” in his answers. He said he had been at Hines VA hospital and then had gone to Walmart to get air in his bicycle tires. He denied any knowledge of the stolen bicycles or the second man. Police brought him to Kmart and an employee pegged him as the bike thief. The employees presented surveillance video to be put into evidence.
The suspect refused to sign a Miranda warning or make any statement about the incident. Because he had a previous conviction for retail theft, the Assistant State’s Attorney OKd a felony charge of retail theft.
These items were obtained from the records of the Forest Park Police Department, Aug. 25-29, 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
Contact: jean@forestparkreivew
Twitter: @FP_Review
