Alex Espinoza of Chicago, 23, was arrested the morning of Sept. 24 at a TCF Bank branch inside Jewel, 7525 Lake St. in River Forest, where he was charged with misappropriation of financial institution property, a class 3 felony.
TCF identified the theft and investigated it internally before turning it over to River Forest police. Espinoza was alleged to have taken $5,564 from the bank safe and transferred it to his drawer, which he then kept for himself, police said.
Drugs
A Villa Park girl was arrested the afternoon of Sept. 21 by Oak Park police on the 500 block of S. Austin Blvd. in Oak Park for possession of a controlled substance. She allegedly had 12.4 grams of heroin divided into 32 plastic bags. She was processed and turned over to her family.
In the same complaint, Jeffrey A. Hayley of Villa Park, 20, was arrested for endangering the health of a child, as well as driving with a revoked license. He was charged because he was willing to drive her to get heroin. He was allegedly driving the Villa Park girl.
Two Oak Park girls were arrested just after 1 a.m. Sept. 26 on the 300 block of S. Euclid in Oak Park, where they were charged with unlawful possession of cannabis. They were turned over to their parents. They allegedly had 0.6 grams of cannabis. Officers got a noise complaint, responded to the area, pulled the car over and stopped them.
Scams
A man who described himself as a carpenter distracted two River Forest homeowners the evening of Sept. 26 at their home on the 1400 block of Thatcher Avenue while a second man stole jewelry.
The first man, who was described as being roughly 60 years old, 5-foot, 10-inches with a heavy build, wearing a cap and jeans, told the victims he had bought a nearby home and was planning to build a fence behind their property. While they were distracted, the second man, who was simply described as being “younger” and wearing red and black, took jewelry from the bedroom.
Retail theft
A small display case containing stud earrings was stolen the afternoon of Sept. 20 from Anana’s Clothing, 109 N. Oak Park Ave. The offender was described as a 20- to 25-year-old man, roughly 5-foot, 8-inches with a medium build, black hair, with a dark baseball cap carrying a black satchel.
A man in his late 40s or early 50s stole a carton of cigarettes from True Discount, 1155 Garfield St. in Oak Park. He allegedly asked for them, then reached over the counter to grab them. He then was driven away in a white 1991 Oldsmobile.
A T-Mobile Tap cell phone was stolen by two women in their early 20s the afternoon of Sept. 22 from Radio Shack, 914 Madison St. in Oak Park. The two women took the phone from a security container and left the store in a green Pontiac going westbound on Madison.
Donna Bell of University Park, 41, was arrested the afternoon of Sept. 22 at Borders, 1144 Lake St. in Oak Park, where she was charged with felony retail theft. She allegedly took six paperback books and three boxes of candy totaling $85.
Derrick L. Hutcherson of Chicago, 53, was arrested the afternoon of Sept. 25 at Borders, 1144 Lake St. in Oak Park, where he was charged with retail theft. He was allegedly seen by a store employee taking CDs from a display, and exiting the store without paying.
Theft
Someone stole $440 in cash overnight between Sept. 18 and Sept. 19 from an unlocked box in an apartment’s bedroom on the 300 block of S. Ridgeland Ave. in Oak Park.
Jamal Gray of Chicago, 18, was arrested the afternoon of Sept. 21 on the 100 block of N. Lombard in Oak Park, where he was charged with felony theft from person that occurred on the first block of N. Ridgeland. He allegedly took a Samsung cell phone.
A 20- to 25-year-old man stole a victim’s black Apple iPhone out of his hands the afternoon of Sept. 22 as the westbound Blue Line el train came to a halt at the Oak Park Avenue stop. He was last seen running southbound on East Avenue from Harvard.
Colette A. Loebbaka of Chicago, 47, turned herself in the afternoon of Sept. 21 at the Oak Park police station, where she was charged with theft. She allegedly took roughly $11,000 worth of jewelry from the 100 block of south East. Avenue in Oak Park.
Battery
Thomas L. Montgomery of Evanston, 42, was arrested early the morning of Sept. 21 at West Suburban Hospital, 3 Erie Court in Oak Park, where he was charged with criminal trespass to property and battery. He allegedly pushed a security guard. He was allegedly told to leave the property at least seven times in the past week, and would not leave when he was confronted by the guard.
A 17-year-old Berwyn boy was arrested the afternoon of Sept. 26 on the 1100 block of S. Lombard, where he was charged with aggravated battery. He allegedly approached a boy from behind, struck him in the face and fled.
Battery to police
Grace Norwood of Oak Park, 65, was arrested the afternoon of Sept. 25 at the Oak Park Fire Department, 100 N. Euclid Ave., where she was charged with two counts of aggravated battery to a police officer and two counts of battery.
Officers responded to a disturbance at the fire station, where they allegedly found Norwood yelling at fire personnel and refusing to leave when officers asked her to. When she began to leave, she swung and struck one of the officers, at which point she was taken into custody.
While being processed on the scene, she struck another officer. No serious injuries were reported.
Burglary
Two 42-inch Samsung HDTVs, an Apple PowerBook laptop with its charger, miscellaneous clothes and jewelry, and $500 in cash were stolen the afternoon of Sept. 24 from a home on the 900 block of S. Lombard Avenue in Oak Park. The home’s door was forced open, possibly with a half-inch prying tool.
Attempted robbery
A roughly 20-year-old, 6-foot-tall, 160-pound man approached a victim who was walking down the 300 block of S. Humphrey in Oak Park the night of Sept. 23. The offender implied he had a gun and demanded the victim’s belongings. However, when the victim began to whistle loudly and said that someone would call the police, the offender fled through a home’s gangway towards Austin Blvd.
Public indecency
A man exposed himself around 9:10 p.m. Sept. 23 as an Oak Park girl was walking on the 100 block of S. Scoville Avenue in Oak Park. The offender was described as a white man in his 20s, roughly 6 feet tall with a thin to medium build, dark hair, a white baseball cap, a light blue shirt, dark blue shorts and white gym shoes. He allegedly walked away northbound from the scene afterwards.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Oak Park and River Forest police departments from September 20 to September 27. 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.
