A resident of the 300 block of Elgin Avenue came home from work on May 4, only to find his apartment burglarized, police reported.
The victim told police he left for work at around 9:30 a.m. While he remembered locking the door, he left a living room window partially open. When he returned home at around 4:30 p.m., he discovered that his window screen was damaged and his door was unlocked.
Missing from the apartment was MacBook Pro laptop, a Michael Kors watch, three credit cards, a checkbook, his driver’s license, and a coin collection worth $1,000. The victim also received fraud alerts from his bank which showed that someone attempted to use his credit cards at the Target location, 1129 Lake St., in Oak Park on 3:45 p.m. and 3:47 p.m., then at the 7-Eleven at 205 Harlem Ave. in Forest Park, at 4:05 p.m.
Drug offense
A license plate check on May 3 led to an arrest of a passenger who was allegedly trying to sell cannabis illegally.
At around 1:02 a.m., an officer ran a check on a vehicle parked at the parking lot of a 7-Eleven location at 7749 Roosevelt Road and found that the vehicle registration expired and the owner’s driver’s license was suspended.
The officer approached and confirmed the driver, a 42-year-old Chicago woman, was the owner. She reportedly gave police permission to search the vehicle and they reported finding a cup containing leftover alcohol, an empty liquor bottle and a red bag on the passenger side floor board, which had 15 zip-top baggies of varying sizes reportedly containing 105 grams (or around 3.7 ounces) of cannabis. The A 34-year-old Chicago who was the passenger reportedly confirmed that the bag belonged to him.
Police arrested the man for suspected illegal cannabis sales. During booking, the man reportedly started acting “irregularly” and an officer reported found several pills – later confirmed to be ecstasy – clenched in the man’s fist. When one of the pills dropped, the suspect reportedly dove after it and swallowed it.
Police charged him with illegal manufacture/deliver of cannabis, possession of a controlled substance and possession of cannabis.
The vehicle’s owner was cited for driving with expired registration and without car insurance, as well as for having open alcohol in her car.
Catalytic converter thief spotted, flees
Oak Park police were unable to catch a man who allegedly stole a catalytic converter from a vehicle parked in a tenant parking lot in the back of a Forest Park apartment building at the 100 block of Marengo Ave.
The theft took place on May 6 at around 1:16 a.m. A witness, whose window faced the parking lot, said he was woken up by the sawing sounds. When he looked out the window, he saw the parked car, a 2006 Toyota Prius Sedan, up on a jack and someone using a saw. The witness said he saw the suspect get out from under the vehicle, get into a white Chevy truck parked nearby and drive southbound through the alley and onto Dixon Street.
An Oak Park police officer who was driving in the area saw a white truck turn from Dixon Street onto Harlem Avenue and travel north. The officer reported that the truck’s license plate was “obscured.” The truck driver refused to stop and raced north, turning east on North Avenue, where the officer lost sight of the vehicle.
The suspect remains at large.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, May 2-8, 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 Igor Studenkov
