Riverside police arrested a 17-year-old Chicago boy at 11:24 a.m. on July 16 in the 3400 block of South Harlem Avenue, reporting he was arrested in Oak Park in 2016 and charged with two counts of aggravated carjacking and one count of armed robbery.
Police observed the teenager riding a dirt bike in the parking lanes adjacent to the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad grade crossing and conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle, which had no registration.
The teen reportedly tried to flee on foot but was captured by police. He had no valid driver’s license and had an active felony warrant for failing to appear in court on the case involving the 2016 carjacking.
Four people – two juveniles and two men from Chicago – were arrested in the April 7, 2016 carjacking, which took place in Oak Park in the alley between the 700 blocks of North Grove and Kenilworth avenues.
The teenager arrested in Riverside was one of the two juveniles involved in the carjacking. The two adults in that case were identified as Darryl G. Peters Jr. and Anthony C. Johnson.
The four alleged carjacking offenders approached a 71-year-old Oak Park man in his garage as he was cleaning his car.
“One tried to pull open my door, which I pulled closed and then he pulled out what looked like a Colt .45 and pointed it at my head and told me to get out,” the victim told Wednesday Journal in 2016. “I got out and he immediately slid into the driver’s seat. The other three jumped into the car and it sped off.”
Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel said in a press release that the four individuals arrested in that 2016 carjacking were found in possession of a .44-caliber Ruger revolver, and 9 mm Ruger semiautomatic handgun with a 20-round extended magazine.
The teen arrested on July 16 in Riverside was charged with driving without a valid Illinois license and was cited for the vehicle having no registration and no proof of insurance.
He was turned over to Cook County juvenile authorities on the no-bond warrant.
“This juvenile’s criminal history already included a 2015 armed robbery, numerous gambling arrests, a manufactured delivery of heroin case and this armed robbery of two people and hijacking of a vehicle,” Weitzel said in the press release. “Taking into consideration he’s only 17, he’s amassed quite a criminal history.”
CONTACT: tim@oakpark.com
