Attempt to lift vacuums sucks employee into trouble
A Bed, Bath and Beyond loss prevention agent called police at 5:32 p.m. on July 5. Officers arrived at 215 Harlem Ave., and the employee told police he believed a theft was in progress. The man said he had witnessed another employee, Kenneth Reynolds, 32, of Chicago, walk out of the store with three vacuums. On June 20, the employee said security cameras had captured Reynolds walk out of the store with two vacuums without paying. Bed, Bath and Beyond was missing $12,000 worth of vacuums.
Police attempted to apprehend Reynolds, who ran east, ignoring officer commands to stop. Eventually he surrendered on Elgin Avenue and was transported to the Forest Park Police Department, where he told officers he attempted to steal the vacuums by concealing them in the parking lot. When asked how he was going to get the vacuums out of the parking lot, Reynolds replied, “I have no idea.”
He received a felony charge for retail theft.
Slumped behind the wheel
Officers spotted a man passed out behind the wheel of his car at 6:58 p.m. on July 2 on the 800 block of Desplaines Avenue.
Police approached the car, and immediately smelled alcohol coming from the sleeping driver. They also noticed the GMV Yukon was turned on and in drive. Worried the man might be startled when awakened, an officer reached through the open driver’s side window, placed the vehicle in park and turned the car off.
After several attempts to wake the man, police opened the car door, the man woke up, stepped out and his pants fell down. He refused to provide ID or answer any of the officers’ questions. Police eventually obtained his ID and a name check revealed the man, Sylvester Carrizales, had a suspended license.
Carrizales, 37, of Chicago, was transported to the Forest Park police station and charged with aggravated driving under the influence (DUI), as well as misdemeanor charges for driving with a suspended license and illegal parking.
Armed robbery at the CTA
Police responded to a report of an armed robbery at the Harlem Blue Line stop, 701 Harlem Ave., at 8:33 p.m. on July 1.
A Bellwood man, 38, told police he was riding the train with a man and a woman. He began talking with the woman, and the man said something he couldn’t understand. As the train pulled into the Harlem stop, the man yelled, “Give me your money or I’m going to [expletive] you up.” He then held a knife to the Bellwood man’s throat, while he and the woman rifled through the victim’s pockets. Reported stolen were $65 cash, his ID and CTA bus pass.
Failure to break flips car
A Peotone man flipped a car about 7:45 a.m. on July 1 in the turn lane on the 700 block of Harlem Avenue.
The man told police he did not see cars stopped in the intersection as he approached. He attempted to swerve to avoid the stopped cars but hit a Kia Sportage on the driver’s side, flipping the vehicle. The Kia driver, a Chicago woman, 41, told police she did not have a valid driver’s license.
She was arrested for driving with a suspended license. Neither were transported to the hospital for injuries.
Thieves escape Walmart
Police responded to a call about a retail theft at Walmart, 1300 Desplaines Ave., at 8:54 a.m. on July 3. The store’s loss prevention associates were able to apprehend one person, but two others fled through the parking lot. The employee told police the thieves were attempting to steal BB gun pellets, clothes, chips and a soda.
A nearby officer reported that he recently saw two people matching the subjects’ description walking in the Portillo’s parking lot. As police drove up to the parking lot, they spotted a car containing two individuals who looked like the suspected thieves. They drove up the Kia Sorrento and the car drove through the parking lot. Officers followed the car, activated their emergency sirens, and saw two additional passengers rise up who had been lying down in the car. The vehicle eventually came to a stop and as police began walking toward the Kia Sorrento, the vehicle accelerated again and drove a short distance through the parking lot. It then stopped, again, and police heard the engine sound as if the accelerator and brake were being pressed at the same time.
The driver kicked an 18-year-old Maywood woman out of the car, yelling “get the [expletive] out.” The car then fled down Roosevelt Road. Maywood police eventually located the car on the 1900 block of Washington Boulevard in Maywood. Forest Park police responded to the scene and found a handgun on the car floor.
At the police station, the Maywood woman told police she had been with her brother in the car and was kicked out because she was trying to stop them from fleeing from police. She was released because it was unclear what, if anything, she had to do with the retail theft at Walmart.
Thief nabs iPhone
A Cicero man told police he was sitting near the train door of the CTA Blue Line at about 5:11 p.m. on July 6, when three men snatched the phone he was using out of his hands. His iPhone was valued at $1,200 and his cellphone case held his state ID card.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, July 1-7, 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.
Nona Tepper
