Senior loses $1,800 to repair scam
A Forest Park senior citizen is out $1,800 after falling prey to a pair of purported concrete construction workers who took her money but did little in the way of work.
Police believe the men targeted the woman after seeing her leave a local grocery store and followed her home. Once the victim arrived home, one of the men reportedly approached her and started pointing out all of the cracked concrete sidewalk on her property, telling her he could repair it for $1,800 in cash.
The 82-year-old victim withdrew $1,800 from the bank and returned home. When she got there, a second worker told her he had to leave but would be back to finish the job. The victim handed him the money, but the workers never returned.
Police said the “repairs” amounted to a light gray skim coat of concrete that appeared to have been applied with a paint roller. The victim could only provide vague descriptions of the workers, who drove a white pickup truck.
Burglary
A resident of the 300 block of Circle Avenue told police he left his apartment about 2 p.m. on April 9 and returned about 45 minutes later to find that several items were missing from a tool bag on his living room floor.
In addition to missing three pairs of pliers, a metal tape measure and a utility knife, the victim said the remote controls for his TV had been thrown in the trash.
Criminal trespassing
Police responded to the 500 block of Thomas Avenue on April 5 about 6:50 a.m. after a resident called to report a prowler in the area.
The resident told police she heard the rear gate open and then her front gate. She went to the back door to find it open, which is not how she left it. The woman than reported hearing her dog barking at the front door. She ran there and saw an unknown Hispanic male, about 20 years old, with a full beard and wearing a gray hoodie with the hood up and gray pants with an orange reflective stripe trying to open the front door.
As she opened the door to confront him, the man ran toward the backyard. He was last seen running south in the alley.
Forest Park police charged a 38-year-old Broadview man with criminal trespassing after a resident of the 7400 block of Washington Street reported that the man had entered his backyard and was inspecting furniture stacked on the back porch on April 9 about 4:25 p.m.
Fearing the man was about to steal items off his porch, the resident confronted the subject, who left the area through the alley. Police also learned from another resident that the same man had been seen looking into vehicles in the parking lot in the 200 block of Desplaines Avenue and was seen changing shirts before climbing over a fence into the 7400 Washington alley.
Police located the subject and reported finding him in possession of a driver’s license and four credit cards belonging to someone else. The owner of the driver’s license and credit cards told police he’d lost them in Chicago on April 8, and he began receiving notifications that charges were being made on the cards.
However, the victim said he’d canceled the credit cards and didn’t want to pursue charges.
Police also recovered a Ventra card belonging to a woman in the man’s possession. The woman also declined to sign a complaint against the man.
Drug, weapons charges
Two men face drug and weapons charges after police stopped the vehicle they were in for driving through a stop sign and nearly striking an unmarked police vehicle in the parking lot of Walmart, 1300 Desplaines Ave., on April 9 about 1:50 p.m.
The driver, Zaire M. Parker, 20, of Maywood, reportedly could not produce a driver’s license or proof of insurance and gave police a false name. He and his passenger, Derrell L. Townes, 21, of Forest Park, were ordered out of the vehicle and police reported seeing a bag of cannabis inside the front passenger door.
Police placed both into custody and later reported recovering two grams of cannabis, eight grams of crack cocaine and a loaded 9 mm pistol.
Townes was charged with unlawful use of a weapon, possession of a controlled substance and possession of cannabis. Parker was charged with delivery of a controlled substance, possession of cocaine and cannabis, and obstruction.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, April 3-9, and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Unless otherwise indicated, anybody named in these reports has only been charged with a crime. These cases have not been adjudicated.
—Compiled by Bob Uphues
