Lyons resident Patrick Vilimek, 52, faces two felony charges for forgery after he allegedly passed bad checks at two Riverside banks last fall.

Riverside police arrested Vilimek on Jan. 26 after he surrendered at the Riverside police station. Vilimek, according to Riverside police, was an active auxiliary police officer in the village of Bridgeview at the time of his arrest.

Vilimek reportedly tendered a fraudulent check for $2,000 to open an account at First American Bank in Riverside back in October. He then withdrew money from the account, said police, who also learned that Vilimek allegedly had done the same thing at another bank in Riverside.

Bank officials contacted police on Jan. 26 after an internal investigation into the matter. Police said Vilimek told them he believed the checks to be genuine and that he got them after soliciting loans on the web. Police reported finding three other checks for more than $3,000 each inside his home.

Investigators were unconvinced. Vilimek deposited a check at another Riverside bank after being informed by First American that the first was fraudulent, police said.

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office approved charging Vilimek with two felonies. He remains free on bond.

Taking off with the kids

North Riverside police charged a Chicago man with fleeing and eluding, endangering the life of a child and several traffic offenses after the man allegedly disobeyed a stoplight at First Avenue and Cermak Road and then refused to be pulled over by a police officer.

According to police, Edgar Toledo, 24, was driving a 1999 Chevy Tahoe when he went through a red left-turn arrow on First Avenue before heading west on Cermak Road. An officer who witnessed the turn followed Toledo and attempted to stop the vehicle at 2nd Avenue. The Tahoe drove over the curb and then back onto the roadway, heading west.

Toledo turned into the Broadview Plaza shopping center at 14th Avenue and then into the Walgreen’s parking lot, where he was arrested. Police reported that three children, age 10, 7 and 5, were inside the car. There were no seat restraints on the kids, police said. Toledo was also cited for not having a driver’s license. The children were handed over to their 34-year-old mother, Toledo’s girlfriend.

Man absconds with library DVD

A man walked into the North Riverside Public Library, 2400 Desplaines Ave. just before 11 a.m. on Jan. 25, and asked an employee where the DVD section was located. Minutes after being directed to that area, the man walked out of the library, activating the theft detection system at the front entrance.

A library employee followed the man out the door and spotted the suspect leaving the area in a four-door tan vehicle. A witness later told library employees he saw the suspect conceal something in his coat before leaving the library. The suspect is described as a white male in his 30s, approximately 6 feet tall with a skinny build and medium-length hair parted on the side.

Brookfield home burglarized

A Brookfield man, who went to the hospital with his wife at 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 24 when the woman went into labor, returned to his home on the 4500 block of Grove Avenue, Jan. 25, to find that 50 DVDs and a Playstation 3 videogame were missing.

The man told police all of the doors were locked when the couple left for the hospital, but police reported finding no signs of forced entry.

Felony DUI

Dawid J. Slysz, 23, of Franklin Park, faces felony charges of driving under the influence and driving on a revoked license after being arrested in Riverside for erratic driving on Jan. 30.

Police received calls of a possible drunk driver nearly striking other vehicles while driving a 1998 Chevy on First Avenue about 7:15 p.m. An officer reported that the vehicle drifted from lane to land and crossed the center line before being curbed near 31st Street.

Slysz, who has two previous arrests for DUI and several for driving on a revoked license, had a blood-alcohol level of .223, which is nearly three times the legal limit of .08, police said.

The Cook County State’s Attorney approved felony drunk driving charges.

Riverside police charged Melrose Park resident Juan Garcia, 22, with aggravated DUI after an officer reported seeing Garcia’s 2001 Oldsmobile swerving between lanes and crossing the center line several times while he was northbound on First Avenue between Waubansee Road and 31st Street on Jan. 31 around 2:15 a.m.

Garcia reportedly has never had a driver’s license and the vehicle was uninsured. His blood-alcohol level was reportedly .192, which is more than twice the legal limit.

The Cook County State’s Attorney approved felony DUI charges. Garcia was also cited for several traffic offenses.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, Jan. 24-31, 2011, 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