A North Riverside teenager convicted last month of two misdemeanor counts of criminal sexual abuse faces more misdemeanor charges for battery, assault and endangering the life of a child in connection with an apparent attempt to force four grade school students to join a gang-like “association.”
As of Monday, Cesar A. Munive, 18, was in Cook County Jail on $100,000 bond after being charged March 12 with one count of domestic battery, two counts of assault, three counts of endangering the life of a child and three counts of battery.
According to police, Munive used the juveniles’ interest in a BB gun as an entrée, saying they needed to join an “association” at a cost of $5 per week to use the gun. The $5 was due every week, and failure to pay would result in punishment, including 10 to 20 seconds of getting beaten on the back or being shot in the back of the legs with the BB gun. The boys ranged in age from 11 to 12 years old.
One boy reportedly told police he was ordered to face the wall and was shot in the leg by Munive after the boy failed to pay up one week. Another boy reported to police that Munive ordered him to shoot Munive’s brother and another boy in the legs for rules violations.
When one boy reportedly balked shooting another “association” member on Munive’s order, Munive allegedly pointed the gun at the boy and told him to either shoot the boy or be shot himself.
One boy said he was ordered to join the association and make payments against his will after Munive allegedly pointed the BB gun at him.
Munive reportedly told at least one boy that he knew another “association” with which the boys could have BB gun fights with, showed the boys gang-style graffiti using the association’s name and showed them how to make gang signs with their hands.
Police were unable to recover the weapon or the poster with the gang graffiti, and the Cook County State’s Attorney denied a request for felony charges against Munive.
Lewd conduct
Riverside police last week alerted residents that a man has twice been observed engaging in lewd behavior and to call police immediately if they witness such behavior in the future.
Police said the first incident occurred on March 4 between 2 and 2:30 p.m. at the Riverside Public Library, 1 Burling Road. A 40-year-old woman sitting at a table in the back of the library reported to an employee that a man with a magazine in his lap appeared to be masturbating at the next table.
The man was seen fleeing from the library in a vehicle parked by Guthrie Park.
On March 10, between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m., an instructor at Riverside Dance Studio, 25 Forest Ave., reported seeing a man sitting on a bench outside the studio looking in at a class of young girls. The man reportedly had his hand inside his pants, and appeared to be masturbating.
The offender is described as a white male in his late twenties or early thirties, between 5-9 and 5-11 tall, 165 to 175 pounds, with short, dark brown hair, clean shaven and possibly wearing glasses.
Alleged drug dealer arrested
Brookfield police on March 14 arrested an alleged drug dealer and charged him with possession of cannabis with intent to deliver, a Class 3 felony, after a month-long investigation by Brookfield police.
According to police, at about 7:30 p.m., Brookfield officers in conjunction with the suburban Major Case Assistance Team (MCAT) executed a search warrant at 3836 Madison Ave., recovering 67 grams of cannabis, packaging materials, a scale and $877.
They arrested Nicholas A. Fajdich, 20, and charged him with two felonies.
At 10:45 p.m., Brookfield police arrested Western Springs resident Joeset Ocasio-Martinez, 21, and charged him with a Class 4 felony count of possession of cannabis after reportedly recovering 73 grams of cannabis from his vehicle, which was stopped for traffic violations in the 4000 block of Custer Avenue.
Burglary
A resident of the 4200 block of Maple Avenue, Brookfield, reported that between 11:30 p.m. on March 13 and 6:30 a.m. on March 14, someone forced open the lock on the sliding door of a Ford E250 cargo van parked next to the garage and removed over $700 in power and hand tools from inside.
Ammo possession
Berwyn resident Marcelino Canchola, 29, faces a felony charge of unlawful possession of ammunition by a felon, after a traffic stop in Riverside just before 10 p.m. on March 4.
Police reportedly recovered 39 rounds of live ammunition, including handgun and shotgun rounds, in a black plastic bag inside the car.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments from March 4 through March16 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. The cases have not been adjudicated.
-compiled by Bob Uphues