Jennifer and Frank Vlazny never knew if they’d ever see their German shepherd, Hanna, again. On Nov. 28, 2009, a neighbor informed the couple that the dog had been stolen out of the front yard by a man and woman who sped away in a red vehicle.
They put up posters and wrote letters to the editor, seeking help and imploring the thieves to return their pet.
Last week Riverside police gave the Vlaznys a late Christmas gift – Hanna had been found at a residence in Lyons. A scan of the microchip implanted under her skin confirmed it.
“I had resolved myself to the fact that we may never see her again, but I never gave up hope,” said Jenny Vlazny.
Hanna was so excited to see Frank Vlazny that he bowled over his old master, who was helped up by the officer who brought the dog back home.
When Jenny arrived home, Hanna ran and snapped up a stick and dropped it at her feet to play fetch.
“It was like she’s never been gone,” Jenny said. “I can’t say enough about the Riverside police and Detective [Dave] Krull. He took it seriously and reunited her with the family.”
Three weeks ago, a woman walked into the lobby of the Riverside police station and told Krull that she believed her son had the dog in his possession. Police gave the Vlaznys the woman’s phone number and they contacted her. Then she suddenly stopped cooperating, police said.
The woman’s 23-year-old son reportedly worked in Lake Zurich or Arlington Heights, but neither address panned out. Krull then tracked his mother to a Lyons address, where on May 25 he did some surveillance. He heard dogs barking inside the home.
Later that night, he received word that the dog was in the backyard of the home. A Riverside police officer reportedly went to the house and received permission from the woman’s brother to enter and check for the dog, which was found and scanned.
Police seized the dog and returned her to the Vlaznys the next day.
No charges were filed, though police said someone could be charged after all the evidence is reviewed.
Burglary
A resident of the 4100 block of Deyo Avenue, Brookfield, reported to police that between 7:40 a.m. and 6 p.m. on May 25, someone broke into her residence and removed a Comcast cable box and two seat cushions from two front-room chairs.
According to the police report, the offender gained entry to the home by forcing open the basement door. In addition, said police, someone entered the detached garage and broke a porcelain sink and toilet in the apartment above it. Entry was again through a small roof-access panel on top of the garage, police reported.
Also inside the apartment, someone emptied a vacuum full of chimney soot all over the floor. The homeowner discovered that an overhead garage door was unlocked. Prior to leaving, the resident had secured the door with vise grips found in the broken upstairs sink.
The resident said that only a few people know about the existence of the roof hatch, and that she believed the home was deliberately targeted by the burglar/vandal.
Brookfield police reported that during the overnight hours of May 16 and 17, someone entered the unlocked garage of a home in the 3300 block of Vernon Avenue, Brookfield, and removed a boys black BMX Diamondback Viper bicycle.
On May 21, someone reportedly saw the bike locked up to the bike rack at S.E. Gross School, 3524 Maple Ave., with the Diamondback stickers removed from the frame. Police seized the bicycle.
Someone entered an unlocked 2008 Dodge van parked in the 9100 block of 26th Place, Brookfield, during the overnight hours of May 25 and 26 and removed a Tom Tom global positioning system unit and a wallet.
That same night, someone rifled through two cars parked in the driveway of a home in the 2600 block of Maple Avenue, Brookfield. From one of the vehicles, someone removed a briefcase, which was found smashed open behind a neighbor’s garage. Four work IDs were taken from the briefcase.
The interior of the second vehicle was ransacked, but nothing appeared to be missing, according to police.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside and Brookfield police departments from May 21 to May 28 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