A man wielding a screwdriver snatched a gold chain from around the neck of a 49-year-old Brookfield man as the victim was walking in the 3400 block of Maple Avenue, Brookfield, on May 29 at about 2:20 p.m.
The victim was walking southbound on the sidewalk with a 46-year-old woman when a subject ran up to them and asked, ‘Do I know you?”
The man, who was carrying a screwdriver in his right hand, then grabbed for the victimfs gold necklace with his left hand. The victim was able to hang on to the medallion dangling from the chain, but the offender made off with the chain and ran to a black Ford Explorer driven by another man. The vehicle drove away northbound in the alley behind Brookfield Bowl.
The victims were able to get a partial license plate number, which matched a Ford Explorer registered with the Illinois Secretary of State, and police obtained video surveillance footage from a nearby business.
Brookfield police have issued information about the vehicle to all Cook County and DuPage County police agencies.
The man who snatched the necklace is described as a Hispanic male between 20 and 30 years old, with short hair and a muscular build, weighing 180 to 200 pounds. The man was not clean shaven, but had razor stubble. He was wearing a short-sleeve or cut-off sleeve shirt, blue jeans and tennis shoes.
The man driving the SUV was described as a male Hispanic between 20 and 30 years old with a heavy build and long hair in a ‘puffy” pony tail. The last four digits of the vehiclefs license plates were 3811, according to police.
Obstructing justice
Riverside police charged a 24-year-old Lyons resident with obstructing justice after he allegedly gave an officer a false identification card when the officer asked him why he was attempting to open the doors of two cars parked on Lawton Road near Riverside Road on May 27 at about 11 p.m.
The police officer reported seeing the man cross over into Riverside from the swinging bridge and attempt to open the car doors, which were locked. When the officer confronted the man, he reportedly gave the officer a driverfs license with someone elsefs name and photo on it.
He was identified through a fingerprint check, police said. The man has a June 15 court date.@
Homes burglarized
A resident of the 3500 block of Hollywood Avenue, Brookfield, reported to police that between 8 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on May 21, someone had entered the home and removed a Playstation 3 videogame system, games and game controllers.
Someone reportedly pried open a rear window to gain access to and burglarize a home in the 3800 block of Kemman Avenue, Brookfield, between May 25 and 29, according to police.
The owners arrived home at 8 a.m. on May 29 and discovered that someone had stolen money from a change jar and a childfs piggy bank, jewelry and a check book.
North Riverside police reported that a home in the 2300 block of 11th Avenue was burglarized between May 24 and May 27. About $200 in jewelry and $200 in cash was taken from the residence, police reported.
Theft
For the third time since work began, construction materials have been stolen from crews working on Grand Boulevard road improvements.
On May 25, an employee of Bolder Contractors Construction told police that between 1:26 and 4:26 p.m. on that day someone had stolen a chainsaw and a generator left near one of the construction vehicles near the intersection of Broadway and Park avenues.
A 23-year-old Brookfield woman reported to police that during the early morning hours of May 30, someone removed the catalytic converter from her 2003 Honda Element, which was parked on the street in the 3400 block of Park Avenue.
A resident of the 9400 block of Burlington Avenue, Brookfield, told police that at about midnight on May 30 he noticed the gas tank lid open to his 2010 Dodge SUV.
He didnft think much of it until 10 a.m. when he started the vehicle and saw the gas gauge, which revealed about a quarter of the tank had been siphoned off. The victim had left the vehicle with a full tank of gas the night before, he told police.
Police noted scuff marks around the gas lid.
A resident of the 3500 block of Prairie Avenue, Brookfield, reported to police that someone stole 20 large, white metal poles from the rear of his residence on the morning of May 23.
The poles were between five and 10 feet long.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, May 21-June 3, 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
