A soldier at the National Guard Armory, 8660 Cermak Road in North Riverside, called police on Aug. 8 at 5:30 p.m. after a man who had been turned away from the base twice that day was seen trying to climb the security fence near the main entrance.
According to the police report, the man, whose age and place of residence were not provided, arrived at the front gate for the first time about 2 p.m., telling the sentry he needed to see a recruiter about going from National Guard duty to active U.S. Army duty.
When the on-duty recruiter reportedly told the sentry that the man had been dishonorably discharged from the National Guard, the sentry told him he was not welcome at their property.
About 4 p.m. as the sentry opened the gates to allow a vehicle to enter, the same man came running toward the gate, where he was again denied entry and told to speak to the recruiter at the North Riverside Park Mall.
At 5:20 p.m., the man returned and allegedly started climbing the security fence. The sentry told him to leave, but the man refused, prompting the call to police.
Police arrived and searched the man and his backpack. They found no contraband or suspicious items. He also had no criminal history, so police sent him on his way.
Riverside burglary suspect charged
Riverside police on Aug. 14 arrested Izalis Morales, 19, of Chicago, one of two people they believe were involved in stealing an SUV, as well as multiple burglaries to vehicles and a garage last month in the 100 blocks of Longcommon and Nuttall roads.
Morales had been arrested Aug. 10 along with a male suspect by Winnebago County Sheriff’s Police near Rockford. The man, identified as Darvis R. Dennis, 30, was charged with burglary, possession of a stolen motor vehicle and possession of stolen license plates. Morales was charged with criminal trespass to a vehicle.
Morales was released into the custody of detectives from Riverside and South Barrington, where she and Dennis are also suspected of having committed burglaries.
In the meantime, Riverside police obtained a search warrant for a storage locker in Chicago where they found more than 250 items of stolen property.
According to Police Chief Thomas Weitzel, Dennis would steal items and often a vehicle to transport them out of an area, while Morales’ role was to sell the stolen property using an app called Let Go.
Riverside charged Morales with felony possession of stolen property and possession of a motor vehicle stolen from a Riverside driveway in July. She has also been charged by South Barrington police and is being investigated by police in New Lenox, Hinsdale, Burr Ridge, Indiana and Wisconsin.
Dennis is still being held in Winnebago County. Riverside police were planning to interview him there on Aug. 21.
Burglary
A resident of the 3200 block of Madison Avenue, Brookfield, went to police on Aug. 18 to report that between 1 and 6:45 a.m. someone entered his work van, which was parked in the driveway, and removed an iPad and iPhone 7S. There were no signs of forced entry, said police.
Brookfield police responded to a residence in the 3100 block of Vernon Avenue on Aug. 18 to report that a snow blower had been stolen from her garage. According to the police report, the overhead garage door had been left open for a time the prior week. Nothing else was reported missing from the garage.
Criminal damage
Riverside police responded to an apartment building in the first block of Forest Avenue after a management company employee called to report that the rear entry door to a wing of the building had been forced open. There were no pry marks or shoe prints, police said. Rather, the door appeared to have been forced open by someone using a foot or shoulder. Police found the basement storage lockers to be in order and no other rear doors appeared to have been tampered with.
A 19-year-old Riverside woman called police on Aug. 14 to report that her mother’s black Volvo, which had been parked in the lot near the post office at 45 E. Burlington St. while she was inside for 15-20 minutes, had been vandalized. Someone left an open plastic jar of petroleum jelly oozing onto the hood of the car.
A resident of the 700 block of Selborne Road, Riverside, called police on Aug. 13 to report that someone had dumped a can of Spaghetti-O’s over the back window of his daughter’s vehicle, which was parked in the driveway.
Two weeks earlier, a can of baked beans was dumped on the car.
Brookfield police responded to a home in the 4200 block of Forest Avenue after a resident called to report someone throwing rocks at her home.
Police found multiple landscaping bricks lying around the home’s exterior, along with damage to three windows and the glass front door to the home.
Bowling alley doors found open
Brookfield police responded to the shuttered Brookfield Bowl, 3415 Maple Ave., which is owned by the village and is slated for redevelopment. An anonymous caller informed police that the doors to the bowling alley were unlocked.
An officer reported finding both the north and east side doors open, but no trespassers were discovered during a walk-through of the interior of the building, which remains cluttered with debris, including bowling pins and balls, chairs and more.
The building was secured without incident.
Stolen vehicle recovered
North Riverside police on Aug. 7 recovered a black Infiniti SUV that was stolen out of Minneapolis, Minnesota, after stopping a Broadview man who was driving it eastbound on Cermak Road at 6th Avenue at 5:50 p.m.
Police initially reported that the vehicle was being stopped for speeding, but a check of the registration showed the vehicle had been stolen. The driver later was released without being charged. The investigation was turned over to the Illinois Secretary of State police.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, Aug. 7-19, 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 Bob Uphues
