A couple looking to sell their home got a Gucci GG Supreme diaper bag worth $1,980 stolen by a home inspector that a prospective buyer hired, police said.

The inspector worked for the Home Inspection Geeks company. The inspection of their Troost Avenue home was scheduled for the morning of Dec. 7. The victim said that after the inspection, her wife looked through the attic security camera footage and saw the inspector rummaging through their belongings. While the camera didn’t capture the moment the inspector took the bag, it was visible at 11:38 a.m. and was no longer visible at 11:40 a.m. 

The victim contacted Home Inspection Geeks the following morning. The company told them that the employee didn’t show up for work that morning. 

Armed Robbery

The Madison Street Subway restaurant location was robbed on the night of Dec. 4. 

According to the victims and the store security footage, the robber went into the store through the south entrance at 10:15 p.m. He went into the employees-only room and pointed the gun at the four employees standing inside. One of the employees gave the robber his phone and $20 in cash. The robber then ordered the employees to lay on the floor, kicked them several times and demanded that the first employee open the cash register. When the employee complied, the robber hit him on the back of the head with the butt of the gun, took the cash out of the cash register and fled. 

The employees were all transported to the Rush Oak Park hospital for treatment. They weren’t sure how much cash was taken out of the cash register at the time of the report.

Attempted shoplifting

A 31-year-old Gilliett, Wisconsin, man who tried to shoplift from the Play It Again Sports didn’t get very far after owner Erich Krumrei chased him down, police said.

According to Krumrei, the would-be shoplifter walked into his store on Dec. 4 at around 11 a.m. The 31-year-old man spent about five minutes at the store. He grabbed a few items and ran out of the store without paying for them.

Krumrei chased after him, tackled him to the ground and tried to hold him down until the police arrived. The shoplifter got out and kept talking west without the items. Krumrei simply followed him to keep him in sight.

The police officers intercepted them at the intersection of Madison Street and Ferdinand Avenue. The shoplifter was arrested without incident.

A street security camera captured the man fleeing the store, and a witness said he saw the ensuing altercation first-hand.

Krumrei estimated that the items were worth $198 before taxes.

The 31-year-old was charged with one count of retail theft, and was released pending trial. 

Catalytic converter thefts

Forest Park saw three catalytic converter thefts happen on the Dec. 5 – and two of them happened on the same block of Harvard Street, police reports showed.

The first theft happened on Dunlop Avenue. A video surveillance footage from the neighbor’s Ring camera showed a white SVU driving up to the victim’s grey 2012 Hyundai Sonata at 3:53 a.m. An individual got out of the SUV, raised the Hyundai on a jack. Two minutes later, the individual lowered the jack and got into the back of the SUV. The SUV drove off.

The neighbor reviewed the video footage and contacted the victim at around 3 p.m. The victim confirmed that the catalytic converter was stolen.

Another theft happened at the nearby block of Harvard Street. At around 4 a.m., a witness heard what sounded like a drill coming from outside her bedroom window. When she looked outside, she saw a man underneath the victim’s white 2003 Acura TL, cutting away the catalytic converter. The witness yelled at the man, but he simply waved and kept cutting away. The witness called 911, and while she was reporting a crime, she saw the man who was cutting the catalytic converter and another man cross the street and remove the catalytic converter from the white 2010 Toyota Prius that was parked there. 

The witness said that the men got into a white sedan parked nearby and drove south through the alley behind Harvard Street. 

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, Dec. 4-10, 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