In the end, Riverside resident Douglas Martin wasn’t arrested for holding a woman against her will at his home. The posting on his Facebook page stating he had kidnapped a Korean woman turned out to be, according to Martin, part of a project from a creative writing class he was taking.
What the 38-year-old Martin couldn’t explain away, according to Riverside police, was the heroin residue all over a bathroom sink and drawers, pill bottles filled with cannabis and drug packaging materials.
Now Martin is in Cook County Jail, charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession of cannabis and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Police were alerted to Martin’s Facebook posting on Oct. 16 at 1:25 p.m. by a Chicago man who had met Martin at a rehab center several years ago. Police visited Martin at his home in the 400 block of Uvedale Court and questioned him about the posting. Police said they received permission to search the home, during which they found evidence of drug activity in a downstairs bathroom, which was littered with cigarette butts, small plastic bags of the sort used to package heroin and other drug paraphernalia. They also reported recovering 14 capsules that tested positive for heroin and pill bottles filled with cannabis.
Martin allegedly admitted he at one time had a Korean girlfriend, but that he hadn’t been in contact with her in five years.
Police reportedly contacted the woman, who told them Martin continues to harass her via phone and email.
“Douglas Martin’s statement that his posting was part of a creative writing class for a school project is simply ridiculous,” said Police Chief Thomas Weitzel in a press release. “His Facebook posting was created to generate a reaction from his ex-girlfriend. However, a former acquaintance saw the posting first and contacted Riverside police.”
Street justice
Brookfield police issued a local ordinance ticket to 57-year-old Vaclav Kroc on Oct. 11, after he reportedly bent and twisted the windshield wipers of a neighbor’s car, which was parked in front of his house.
Kroc reportedly asked a neighbor whose car was parked on the street in front of his house at 6:30 p.m., saying it shouldn’t be parked there and that it might be damaged if it remained there. At 7:30 p.m., the owner of the car found that the wipers had been found bent out of shape.
Police questioned Kroc about the incident and he reportedly admitting causing the damage. According to the report, the responding officer told Kroc “every time someone parks in that location, he can’t go bending people’s window wipers.”
Neighbors report shots fired
A resident of the 4100 block of Vernon Avenue, Brookfield, called Brookfield police about 8:25 p.m. on Oct. 14 saying he had heard 5-6 gunshots in front of his home. Other witnesses interviewed by police at the scene also reported hearing what sounded like 4-6 gunshots.
Police could not find any shell casings or bullet holes, but one person interviewed told police he believed the shots may have been meant as a warning from rival gang members to a Brookfield resident from another block who frequents the area.
During the overnight hours of Oct. 13-14 in the 4200 block of Maple Avenue, someone smashed a golf club through the rear window of a vehicle belonging to the family of that person. Police did not say whether the two incidents were related.
Credit card fraud
North Riverside police last week reported that in September an unknown woman used a credit card assigned to an out-of-state woman to fraudulently purchase more than $2,700 in jewelry from Kay Jewelers in the North Riverside Park Mall, 7501 Cermak Road.
The woman entered the store on Sept. 22 and presented the credit card to purchase a diamond necklace and two pairs of diamond earrings. According to the police report, the store employee didn’t ask the woman for a photo ID because she knew the last four digits of the credit card holder’s Social Security number.
The credit card holder told investigators she didn’t authorize the purchases and had never been to the Kay store in North Riverside.
$1,500 in cosmetics stolen
The manager of the CVS Pharmacy, 8911 Ogden Ave. in Brookfield, reported at 11:40 a.m. on Oct. 15 that a woman had just run out of the store carrying a tote bag stuffed with $1,525 in cosmetics that she didn’t pay for.
The woman reportedly entered the store with a man, who distracted an employee by asking her questions about candy. While he was doing that, the woman fled the store, setting off the alarm.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, Oct. 10-16, 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
