Leaning into a car, making furtive motions
A woman called police about 12:10 p.m. on Dec. 6, saying she saw a man breaking into a Pontiac Torrent and Nissan Rogue parked at 303 Desplaines Ave.
When police arrived, they saw a man leaning into a car, making “furtive motions to the center console and glove box areas.” The man exited the car and started to walk south down Desplaines. Officers told him to stop.
The man began to run, turning east on Madison Street. As he ran, loose change fell from his pockets. Police caught the man and performed an emergency take down.
When they searched Deshaun Lopez, 19, of Chicago, they discovered two Ventra cards, a debit card, a $1 bill and $2.52 in loose change. Officers found $8.39 in loose change on the streets and sidewalks where he had fled. Lopez said the loose change was “that guy’s, whoever’s car it was.”
He told police he had been walking from the 7500 block of Brown to McDonald’s when he decided to start checking car handles to see if they were unlocked. He apologized, said he would never do it again and that he was looking for money to feed his family.
Lopez received two felony counts of burglary.
DUI and resisting
Police watched a Nissan speed through a stop sign at the intersection of Circle and Jackson around 11:50 p.m. on Dec. 7.
Officers turned on their lights and siren. The Nissan turned north on Elgin, nearly struck a parked car and then pulled to the side of the road. The driver took the keys out of his ignition and locked the door. He refused to identify himself to officers.
Police called from the squad microphone ordering him to exit the door; the man refused. Officers opened the Nissan’s passenger side door and smelled alcohol. The man continued to refuse to exit, telling police “I have a lawyer.”
He then attempted to start the car again. Police grabbed his arm, and used a stun gun on the man.
The Oak Park man was charged with driving under the influence, disregarding a stop sign and resisting a police officer.
Scammer steals $2K
An elderly Forest Park woman received a call at 3:53 p.m. on Dec. 6, from a man claiming to be her grandson.
The man told the 78-year-old he had been arrested and needed $2,000 to bail out. The woman thought the call was odd, since her grandson has never been in trouble, but wanted to “keep his record clean” and pay the money. The caller told her to go to Walmart and purchase $2,000 worth of prepaid cards.
The woman purchased the cards and called the man, telling him the card numbers and their pin. A short time later, she called her grandson, who said he wasn’t in trouble and had no idea what she was talking about.
Police informed her this was a common scam technique.
Two cars broken into
Sometime between 6 p.m. on Nov. 29 and 9 a.m. on Nov. 30, someone stole a catalytic converter from a Pontiac Sunfire parked on the 500 block of Marengo.
Between Nov. 30 and Dec. 3, someone stole the spare tire from a Ford parked in the rear Riveredge lot, 8311 Roosevelt Road. The thief caused at least $1,200 worth of damage to the Ford.
Wallets stolen
A Bellwood man dropped his Malibu off at Currie Motors about 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 1 for diagnostics. When he returned to 8401 Roosevelt Rd. around 2:30 p.m. that day, he discovered the wallet was missing. It contained his driver’s license, social security card, birth certificate, PayPal visa, debit card and $860 cash.
Sometime between 11:45 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. on Dec. 4, a Broadview man said someone cut the lock from his locker at Planet Fitness, 7530 Roosevelt Road, and stole $40 cash and the wallet inside. The wallet contained four credit cards, a debit card and his Illinois driver’s license.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, Dec. 3-11, 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 Nona Tepper
