Forest Park Police Department detectives, along with a confidential youth agent under the age of 21, conducted Illinois tobacco compliance checks of twenty establishments in Forest Park on June 17. Five locations failed to ask for identification before selling tobacco products to the minor: Diamond Smoke & Vape at 7418 Madison St., Citgo at 7400 Roosevelt Rd., OG Smoke Shop at 1215 Harlem Ave., USA Beverage at 7200 Madison St., and BP Amoco Gas Station at 7204 Washington St. At each location, the underage agent approached the counter and asked to purchase a pack of cigarillos, including grape flavored White Owl cigarillos and Swisher Sweet cigarillos. At all of the mentioned stores, the clerk gave the cigarillos to the youth agent without asking for identification or proof of age. The agent paid and left the store. Each shop was given a local ordinance citation for selling tobacco to a minor and must appear in local ordinance court on Aug. 11.

Gun found in backpack at Walmart

A group of five young people were leaving Walmart, 1300 Desplaines Ave., on June 12 just after 6 a.m. As they passed through the exit door, the security guard, an off-duty Chicago police officer, heard the theft alarm go off. He stopped the group and asked them to walk back into the store. As they did, he noticed that a male subject wearing a backpack on his chest was the one who had set off the alarm. The security guard asked the subject what was in the bag, and the subject said, “Nothing.” The security guard asked if he could search the bag, and the subject said he could.

The security guard began to look inside the bag, which was still being worn by the subject, and he round a Taurus 9 mm handgun, which he took out of the bag. The subject and his friends left the store and were last seen getting into a white vehicle and driving away while the security guard called police.

The incident was caught on surveillance video. The gun was entered into the Law Enforcement Automated Data System (LEADS) but no record was found. The gun was loaded with 17 rounds.

Car window smashed

A woman on the 200 block of Elgin Avenue called police on June 16 at 8:55 a.m. when she discovered the front windshield of her car was broken and a large rock inside the vehicle. The car appeared to be ransacked, but nothing seemed to be missing, reported the owner of the vehicle.

Man exposes himself after asking for directions

A man allegedly exposed himself to a woman on the 1000 block of Marengo Avenue on June 16 around 6:45 p.m. The woman reported that she was walking down the block when a man stopped her to ask for directions. After she pointed him in the right directions, he allegedly told her she was good looking, unzipped his pants and exposed himself.

Two home burglaries on June 14

Police were called to a home on the 1400 block of Harlem Avenue for a report of a burglary on June 14. The owner stated that she was upstairs in her house at around 1:54 p.m. when she heard what sounded like glass breaking downstairs. The woman went down the staircase about halfway and observed a figure through the closed glass living room door, according to the police report. When she went all the way downstairs nobody was there, and a window facing Harlem Avenue was broken, unlocked and ajar. She reported it had been locked and closed earlier.

Police discovered the plants outside the window appeared to be broken and bent, as if someone had trampled them to gain access to the window. Inside the house was what appeared to mud on the floor, a partial muddy shoeprint, and a rock with a napkin around it on the floor, which the resident said wasn’t there before. Nothing appeared to be missing from the house.

Around 7 p.m. that same day, police were called to a home on the 1300 block of Marengo Avenue for another residential burglary. The victim had arrived home to find her front door broken and ajar. Many boxes, drawers, closets and bags had been opened and rummaged through. The victim’s jewelry boxes were open and empty on the bed. Some jewelry and other items were missing. Officers observed a shoeprint in the dirt in front of a window and found some Victoria’s Secret Strawberry Fizz flavored lip gloss, which the victim said did not belong to her.

In both incidents, according to the police report, “it appears the offender assessed the interior of the home by looking through the windows before making entry.”

Man issued citation for public urination at gas station

A man in the parking lot of Thornton’s, 601 Harlem Ave., was issued a citation for public urination when he was caught relieving himself near the dumpsters on June 15 at 12:18 a.m. He told police he didn’t think the bathrooms inside would be open.

Catalytic converter stolen

The catalytic converter of a car on the 7400 block of Warren Avenue was stolen sometime between June 14 at 1 p.m. and June 15 at 1 p.m.

Two cars keyed with bad words

A man who had been working out at Planet Fitness, 7530 Roosevelt Rd., called police on June 14 at 5:33 p.m. when he returned to his car to find that the passenger door of his car had been scratched and keyed. He also reported that someone had tried to scratch what looked like “F*** you” under the passenger side door handle.

On the 7300 block of Dixon Street, a woman found her car had been keyed sometime between June 13 at 8 p.m. and June 14 at 7 p.m. Her car was parked outside her residence, where she found an unknown subject had scratched an offensive term on the rear passenger side of the vehicle.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, June 11-17, 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 Maria Maxham