Brookfield police were able to make an arrest in one of three shoplifting incidents reported at CVS Pharmacy, 8911 Ogden Ave., last week.
On June 5 just after 1 p.m., the pharmacy’s manager called police after a man walked out of the store with $456 in teeth-whitening strips. The man entered the store and walked to the dental products aisle. Five minutes later, he paid for a soft drink and left the store, setting off the theft alarm.
The man entered a small blue SUV and left southbound on Prairie Avenue. The same customer was in the store the previous day, said the store manager. At that time, the manager said he saw a female, who accompanied the man, place cosmetics in her purse. The alarm didn’t go off when they left the store, so the manager didn’t pursue them at that time.
On June 6 about 1:15 p.m., an officer keeping watch on the store reported seeing a blue Kia Sportage with two subjects inside pull into the lot. A few minutes after the female passenger went into the store, the officer received a call that the woman was placing cosmetics in her handbag.
Police arrested both the woman and the male driver of the Kia, and an officer reported finding $212 in cosmetics in the woman’s handbag. Inside the vehicle, police reported finding a backpack containing another 122 cosmetics items worth $1,047.
The woman, a 31-year-old Chicago resident, was charged with a misdemeanor count of attempted retail theft. The driver, a 34-year-old man from Chicago, was cited for driving without a valid license.
But if police thought the arrest would quell the thefts, they got their answer on June 10 when two subjects leaving the store at 10:30 a.m. set off the theft alarm and then got into a blue Toyota minivan. One of the suspects dropped three packages of Rogaine, valued at $150 as he was being chased by a store employee.
The employee said he did not recall seeing the two suspects in the store previously.
DUI arrestee gets violent
Riverside police say that Maywood resident Alfredo Montero, 44, tried to kick out a squad car window and then kicked an officer in the groin after he was arrested for driving under the influence on First Avenue at 7:50 p.m. on June 6.
Police were called to the scene after Montero’s 1996 Audi tried to pass a 2005 Honda Civic driven by a 61-year-old Oak Park woman and allegedly sideswiped the vehicle near 31st Street.
Montero reportedly told police he had drunk a six-pack of beer and failed field sobriety tests at the scene. After being placed in a squad car, Montero allegedly began kicking at the rear window. When officers tried to restrain him, Montero reportedly kicked one of them in the groin, then continued to scuffle with officers from three agencies at the Riverside police station and had to be restrained at MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, where he was taken for treatment and blood tests.
In addition to DUI, Montero was charged with battery, aggravated assault and obstructing an officer. Police said he has previous arrests for DUI and battery.
During the early morning hours of June 6, two men stole six aluminum beer kegs from behind The Sanctuary, 3747 Grand Blvd. in Brookfield. It was the second such incident in recent weeks.
When the bar’s owner arrived at the business at 8:30 a.m. the kegs, which he rents from food distribution companies, were missing from the location. A blue and white cooler was also missing.
Video surveillance footage reportedly showed two men taking the kegs down the alley about 4:40 a.m. The kegs were valued at roughly $150 apiece.
Boys inside vacant home
Three teenage boys were charged with criminal trespass to property after they were reported to be inside a vacant home on North Forbes Road in Riverside on June 7.
A witness called police to tell them the boys were crawling out of a window from inside the home and had fled south across the railroad tracks. Lyons police found the boys nearby and detained them for identification by the witness.
The boys – A 13-year-old from North Riverside, a 14-year-old from North Riverside and a 13-year-old from Riverside – reportedly told police they wanted to use the vacant home’s garage as a hangout.
All three boys were petitioned to juvenile authorities.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, June 4-10, 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
