River Forest detectives are investigating a purse snatching and an armed street robbery that occurred nearly simultaneously the afternoon of April 5. A woman walking near the intersection of Central and Franklin just after 5 p.m. felt a tug on her purse. When she turned, a man described as skinny and in his 20s was pointing a black hand gun at her. He then grabbed her purse, containing her driver’s license, house keys, check book, credit cards and a cell phone and fled.
Several minutes earlier two young men had followed a woman into the foyer of a condo building in the 400 block of Franklin. When the woman put her purse down to insert her key into the door, they grabbed it and fled.
Battery
Two women were groped on consecutive nights on two different rapid transit lines. A Berwyn woman riding the CTA Blue Line was approached from behind by a man around 4 a.m. April 4. The man “grabbed her about her body,” then fled the train at the Austin Boulevard stop.
The morning of April 5 a man walked up behind an Oak Park woman on the stairs of the Marion Street Green Line station and grabbed her buttocks, then fled.
Retail theft
Dwayne Sanders, 39, of Chicago, was arrested by Oak Park police with the assistance of River Forest officers the afternoon of April 10 for Felony Retail Theft after allegedly being found in possession of 13 CD’s with Border’s Books price tags still on them. Sanders, who has nine prior convictions for such offenses as burglary and retail theft, had been paroled March 7.
? Michael Smith, 39, was arrested after allegedly walking out of the Dominicks, 259 Lake St., with two bottles of Rogaine and six packages of laxatives without paying. Smith, who had four prior convictions for drugs, was scheduled to be discharged from parole tomorrow.
? Ulysses Clayton, 41, allegedly removed six cassette tapes and a pair of headphones valued at $74.93 from Coconuts, 7235 Lake St. the evening of April 9.
? Late on the morning of April 10 a man was observed by staff at the CVS pharmacy, 345 Madison, exiting the store with a basket full of merchandise, estimated to be valued at $150, without paying.
Domestic disturbance
River Forest police dealt with an ongoing domestic dispute on Forest Avenue April 6. Around 3 p.m. a woman reported her “soon to be ex-husband” had taken three televisions and various other household items from their home. She told the police she was in the process of obtaining an emergency court order of protection, and was changing the house locks. Several hours later the husband reported to River Forest police that his wife had been telephoning him and threatening to kill him. Early the next afternoon the woman told police she had obtained the order of protection.
Criminal damage to property
Someone used a water hose to fill up two window wells of an apartment in the 1100 block of Harlem the evening of April 6. The resultant flooding caused an estimated $11,000 of damage to the apartment and belongings, including a 52-inch television and other electronic devices, furniture, flooring, walls and electrical wiring.
Theft
Opportunistic thieves continue to swipe the property of inattentive people. A River Forest woman reported that someone entered her unlocked 2001 Honda overnight on April 9 and took $1,000 in cash.
? A patron of the Oak Park Library, 834 Lake St., had his wallet containing $75, an ATM card, and credit cards stolen off a table top the morning of April 8.
? A woman who hung her purse over the back of her chair at Erik’s Deli on Oak Park Avenue, April 8 around noon time lost $20, IDs and credit cards.
? A Concordia student who left her lab classroom momentarily returned to discover her $150 graphing calculator missing the afternoon of April 4.
? A woman’s cell phone was stolen from her cart while shopping at the Jewel store, 7525 Lake St. the afternoon of April 7.
? A Dominican University co-ed had her wallet, containing her driver’s license and four credit cards, stolen from a Centennial Hall room the night of April 8.
? A woman playing on the field near Roosevelt Junior High, 7536 Oak. St. on the afternoon of April 9 lost a pair of $300 prescription eye glasses and an iPod she’d wrapped in her jacket.
? A wallet and book bag were stolen from a shopping cart in Whole Foods the afternoon of April 4.
? A River Forest man was approached by another man in his late teens near Home and Jackson the afternoon of April 9. The teen asked the man if he could use his cell phone, then grabbed it from the man’s hand.
? Bikes are starting to disappear around Oak Park. On April 10 a total of three bikes were stolen in the 800 block of Mapleton and 200 block of South Ridgeland. On April 7 two bikes were stolen out of a garage in the 400 block of South Clinton. Sometime between March 30 and April 4 a bike was taken in the 800 block of South Austin. Losses were between $130 and $330.
Unlawful possession of a weapon
A 17 year old OPRF student was arrested the morning of April 4 after a dean discovered that the cane he was using featured a hidden knife inside the barrel. The student had been sent to his dean after being found outside the school after curfew.
Outside warrant
Ronald Coleman, 39, of Maywood, was arrested at the Aldi Food Store, 25 Lake St., the afternoon of April 5 after he was allegedly observed in possession of burglary proceeds. An investigation revealed that Coleman, a convicted sex offender with nine theft or burglary convictions going back 20 years, was wanted by both Chicago police, for Criminal Damage to Property, and the Illinois Department of Corrections, for a parole violation.
? These items were taken from Oak Park and River Forest Police department incident reports from April 4 through April 11. Not all incidents that occurred are listed. Anyone named in reports has only been charged with a crime and cases have not yet been adjudicated.
?#34;compiled by Bill Dwyer
UnRiver Forest-like behaviors
David Crockett, 46, of Chicago, allegedly refused to leave the Boston Market, 7211 Lake St., until police were called the evening of April 7. Crockett, whom River Forest police say was also the subject of numerous complaints last week in Oak Park and Forest Park. Police suspect he was under the influence of drugs. He was escorted out of the restaurant, but turned up 30 minutes later at the McDonald’s down the street at 624 N. Harlem. Crockett, who was gone when officers arrived at the McDonald’s, was arrested the afternoon of August 16 last year for resisting arrest and battery to a peace officer in Oak Park after he was confronted for panhandling near the Metro station at Harlem Ave.
And a man described as “filthy with wild brown hair” walked into the street near Edgewood and Oak the evening of April 9 and confronted a River Forest man in a threatening manner. He then walked into nearby forest preserves. According to reports from other witnesses over the past several days the man, who sports a brown jacket and dark pants, has been behaving in a threatening manner.
