Three men, one of them armed with a knife, burst into a rental home in the 3700 block of Prairie Avenue, Brookfield, early Monday morning, threatening two residents and stealing $600 in cash and electronic equipment valued at $1,500.
The victims, a 28-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman, said they were sleeping when the men woke them up and began screaming at them between 3:15 and 3:30 a.m. The offenders then began searching the house, asking the residents “Where is it?” and where money was kept.
While the residence was being searched, one of the subjects reportedly held a knife to the back of the head of the man who lived there. All three subjects wore bandannas over their faces and wore graphic-style hooded sweatshirts.
After a time, the offenders shoved both victims into a bedroom closet and pushed a computer desk in front of the door, saying if the victims called police they would return to kill them. Neither resident was injured during the incident.
Twenty minutes later, the two victims left the house and went to friend’s house, where the male victim called his father. His father called police, who surrounded the home. The offenders by that time had fled the scene. Illinois State Police evidence technicians reportedly participated in processing the crime scene.
In addition to cash, the offenders took four laptop computers, two cellphones and the female victim’s driver’s license.
Bike thefts solved
Brookfield police arrested two local teenagers for bike theft last week – both for allegedly stealing the same bike. Neither of the incidents were related, according to police, who returned the bike to its owner both times.
The bike, a blue boy’s Mongoose, was first stolen on Aug. 11, when its 14-year-old owner left it unlocked in a bike rack in front of CVS, 9139 Broadway Ave. in Brookfield.
The 14-year-old girls suspected of taking the bike had it painted black, but police received a report of the girl riding the bike in the 3700 block of Raymond Avenue on Aug. 23.
On Aug. 25 police met with the girl and her mother, and the girl reportedly admitted taking the bike from in front of the CVS. The bike was returned to its owner and the girl petitioned to juvenile authorities for theft.
Just three days later, on Aug. 25, Brookfield police arrested a 17-year-old Brookfield boy for stealing the same bike.
Police received a call at 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 27 about a teenager wearing a black hooded sweatshirt riding a bike in the 3200 block of Park Avenue and pulling on the door handles of cars. Police detained three teens on bikes in the vicinity.
A 17-year-old, identified as Aurelio Ortega, of Brookfield, was reported to be riding a black bicycle that the responding officer recognized as the one police had recovered on Aug. 23.
On Aug. 28, the bike’s owner was contacted and told police that his bike had been stolen from a fast food restaurant in LaGrange and that he had made a report there. Later that evening, police took Ortega into custody and charged him with theft.
Brookfield police charged two more juveniles to stealing bikes on Aug. 20 after the mother of one of the boys reportedly saw her son with a bike that did not belong to him.
The bike, left unlocked behind an apartment building in the 4400 block of Prairie Avenue, was stolen some time after noon on Aug. 18, according to the police report. The bike was reportedly taken by two Brookfield boys, ages 14 and 15.
The mother of the 15-year-old reportedly saw her son with the bike and asked about it. The boy reportedly told his mom that he and a friend had taken it, and she then took him to the police station to report the theft.
Both boys were petitioned to Cook County juvenile authorities for theft.
Battery, disorderly conduct
Riverside police charged Kevin P. O’Callaghan, 47, of Riverside, with battery and two counts of disorderly conduct after he reportedly screamed and spit at a motorist who had honked her horn at him while he was backing out of a driveway on Forest Avenue on Aug. 29 just before 1 p.m.
The woman told police she beeped the horn as a warning that she was there and continued to the stoplight at First Avenue. O’Callaghan allegedly followed her there, got out of his vehicle, began yelling at the woman and spit on her window, side mirror and into her sunroof, hitting her on the shoulder.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments from Aug. 20 to Aug. 31 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
