Brookfield police charged Joseph A. Grom, 28, of Chicago, and James E. Hall, 55, of Country Club Hills, with theft and trespass to railroad property for allegedly taking scrap iron from alongside the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad tracks near Southview and Raymond avenues at about 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 16.

Police received a call reporting that two men were loading scrap metal into a green Jeep Cherokee along the railroad tracks at about the 9400 block of Southview Avenue. Police stopped the vehicle and spoke to the driver, Hall told the officer they had taken the scrap metal from an area near a Dumpster and believed it to be trash. Hall told police that he can get 8.5 cents per pound for the metal at a scrap yard.

Hall told police he hadn’t seen the “no trespassing” or the “railroad property” signs in the area. The two men had collected about $200 worth of scrap metal, according to a railroad police investigator called to the scene.

Someone doesn’t like Bill Brady

Brookfield police responded to the 3400 block of Vernon Avenue in the early morning hours of Oct. 24 after receiving a report that someone was spray-painting political signs.

A caller told police he was awakened by loud talking around 3 a.m. and heard the sound of a metal canister being shaken followed by a hissing noise. The man looked outside to find the word “gay” and an image of the male genitalia spray-painted on the Bill Brady for Governor sign in front of his house.

Police later found other political signs defaced with graffiti, including one in front of a business in the 3500 block of Maple Avenue and two signs at the corner of Sunnyside and Washington avenues, one of them a Bill Brady sign. It had a four-letter word beginning with the letter “F” spayed on it.

Burglary

A 57-year-old woman living in the 9000 block of 23rd Street, North Riverside, reported that between 7:30 a.m. and 6:45 p.m. on Oct. 22 someone entered her home and removed two jewelry boxes, each containing 20 to 30 rings made of various precious metals and containing gem stones, and a third jewelry box containing rings and two diamond necklaces. The jewelry boxes were reportedly kept in a safe. Police reported no signs of forced entry to the safe.

In addition, police stated that a coin bank containing about $30 was also missing from the home. There were no signs of forced entry to the home, police said.

A resident of the 3100 block of Raymond Avenue, Brookfield, reported on Oct. 19 that some time in the last week of September someone broke into her 1997 Geo Prizm and removed a Garmin Nuvi 205w global positioning system unit.

Runs from fight, but not from cops

A 31-year-old North Riverside man escaped from a bar fight in Berwyn on Oct. 25 with a gash over his right eye, but he couldn’t stay out of jail.

North Riverside police saw two men walking westbound in the 7500 block of Cermak Road at 1:45 a.m. One of the men, Bernardo Diaz DeLeon, was holding his hand to his eye. The officer, seeing the cut about DeLeon’s eye, asked if he needed medical attention and asked what happened.

DeLeon reportedly told the officer he was hit in the head with a bottle during a fight at a bar in Berwyn. In speaking with DeLeon, the officer asked to see his identification. A check of his name revealed DeLeon was wanted on a warrant out of DuPage County related to a DUI charge and a harassment charge.

Unable to pay the $2,800 bail, DeLeon was turned over to the DuPage County Sheriff later that morning.

Taking out anger on bus stop

Riverside police charged two teenage boys with damaging a wooden bus stop at the corner of Northgate Road and Desplaines Avenue at about 8 a.m. on Oct. 24 after receiving a call from an off-duty police officer who was on his way home from the midnight shift.

The off-duty officer reported that the boys – a 16 year old from Stickney and a 16 year old from Lyons – had kicked out wooden panels in the wooden shelter and threw them into the street.

While waiting for uniformed officers to arrive, the off-duty officer reported that the Lyons youth resisted arrest. Police charged both boys with criminal damage to property and petitioned them to juvenile court.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments from Oct. 16 to Oct. 25 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