A woman who was drying her car after getting it washed at the Crystal Car Wash was carjacked by two teens.

The victim said that on the morning of Dec. 12, she washed her silver 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee and parked it at the vacant lot across Lexington Street from the car wash in order to dry it out. At around 11:26 a.m., two teens approached the victim. The first teen pointed a gun at her and demanded that she step away from the Grand Cherokee. The other teen demanded the victim’s phone and keys. The victim said that those items were in the car. The two teens then got in and drove away, heading north on Harlem Avenue.

Other customers at the car wash told the police that they saw the two teens walking around, looking at the cars and “acting suspicious.”

The Grand Cherokee was later found in the Austin neighborhood, crashed into a tree and unoccupied. According to the report, the two teens were apprehended by Forest Park and Chicago police detectives. Each teen was charged with one count of aggravated vehicle carjacking.

Road Rage

A bicyclist who confronted drivers about throwing trash out the window got a juice bottle thrown at him for his trouble. 

The victim said that on Dec. 15 at around 4:30 p.m., he was biking west on the section of Harrison Street west on Harlem Avenue when he saw a blue 2019 Ford Edge. According to the license plate record, it was a rental vehicle. The victim said that he saw a woman behind a wheel and a man in the front passenger seat. He saw the man throwing the trash out the window. 

When the victim told the duo to pick up the trash, the man got out of the Ford and shouted at the victim. The passenger then threw a partially filled juice bottle at the victim, hitting him in the shoulder. The passenger then got back in the car, and the car drove east, crossing Harlem Avenue, where Harrison Street turned into Garfield Street. The victim tried to chase them. He last saw them crossing Lombard Avenue.

The victim was able to take pictures of the car and the duo. No arrests were made at the time of the report.

Catalytic Converter Theft

The owner of a gray 2015 Ford F-150KLT came back from work to find the vehicle’s catalytic converter stolen.

The victim parked the car at the Forest Park Blue Line’s terminal north commuter parking lot on Dec. 15 at around 9:30 a.m. He returned at around 6:30 p.m. As the victim drove home, he heard “loud rumbling noise” coming from the car. He checked under the Ford and confirmed that the catalytic converter was stolen. 

Identity Theft

A man who was bedridden with COVID-19 in early November discovered that his phone and ID were stolen after he recovered — and also discovered that someone used the stolen information to buy two expensive bikes. 

The victim said that while he was bedridden, he had “approximately 10 to 12” family members and friends stop by for a visit. He felt better by Nov. 15, which is when he realized that his phone and state ID were missing. While the phone was found near the dumpster outside the building, his ID was still gone.

On Dec. 12, he got an alert on his Affirm payment application showing a new charge of $2,079 at Oak Park’s Wheel & Sprocket bike shop.  When the victim contacted the company to dispute the charge, Affirm said that someone used the money to purchase two bikes. 

The police were unable to get access to the store security camera footage at the time of the report.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, Nov. 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 Igor Studenkov