Riverside police charged two people Thursday in connection with an alleged drug deal that was apparently too complicated to pull off without being noticed.
Police got a call at 11:40 a.m. from an employee at the Bank of America, 3300 Harlem Ave., who said a man was entering unlocked vehicles in the bank’s parking lot across the street and taking items from them.
The employee gave police a description of the man and the license plate number of his vehicle, which left the scene south on Harlem Avenue. Police caught up with the driver, identified as John C. Cetera, 59, of Crete, at Harlem Avenue and Joliet Road in Lyons.
A search of Cetera’s vehicle reportedly turned up a bag of cannabis, which Cetera allegedly admitted to taking from a vehicle parked in the bank lot. Cetera reportedly told police that he set up the deal with a woman who told him to leave $80 in the center console of a car where she left the cannabis. The woman reportedly works at a business in the 3200 block of Harlem Avenue.
However, Cetera said that he was given the wrong vehicle description by the woman, which was why he was checking inside various unlocked vehicles. Cetera gave officers the name of the alleged dealer, leading police to arrest Jennifer E. Lawlor, 37, of Melrose Park.
She was charged with a felony county of manufacturing/delivery of cannabis. Cetera was charged with one misdemeanor count of possession of cannabis.
