North Riverside police are investigating a possible child abduction attempt at the Goodwill store at 1900 Harlem Ave. on the morning of July 8.
Police say a 7-year-old girl was looking at books in a bookcase at the back of the store just before noon, when a man pushed her between the bookcase and a vending machine. The girl reportedly screamed and ran away to her mother, who was inside the store.
The man walked out of the store after the incident and disappeared from the area before police arrived. Police are reviewing video surveillance footage from the store in order to come up with a complete and accurate description of the offender.
More thefts at Brookfield CVS
Police reported three more retail theft incidents at the CVS store at 9811 Ogden Ave. in Brookfield between June 30 and July 6, with officers making arrests in two of the cases.
On June 30, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office approved a felony retail theft charge against Dewanda L. Rush, 39, of Bolingbrook. According to the police report, about 6:30 p.m. that day, Rush took 27 items valued at $205 off the store shelves, hid them in a bag and left the store without paying for them.
A police officer arrested Rush outside the store. The charge was upgraded to felony status because Rush has been convicted of retail theft multiple times, police said. She is being held on $10,000 bond at Cook County Jail, awaiting a July 11 court date.
On July 3 about 10 p.m., a 19- to 20-year-old male reportedly put a bottle of tequila inside a black book bag and tried to leave the store without paying for it. A clerk reportedly grabbed the bottle out of the bag and the man walked out of the store and left the area before police arrived.
Finally, on July 6 about 8:30 a.m. Brookfield police arrested a 24-year-old Chicago man and charged him with misdemeanor retail theft. The man reportedly stole some cartons of cigarettes and fled eastbound on Ogden Avenue in a silver Toyota.
A Riverside police officer stopped a vehicle matching that description on Ogden near Harlem Avenue. Police recovered cartons of cigarettes in the trunk of the vehicle and the store clerk identified the man as the offender, according to police.
Catalytic converter stolen
The owner of a 2003 Honda Pilot reported to Riverside police, July 6, that someone sawed off the vehicle’s catalytic converter while it was parked in Commuter Lot 1 near the Riverside train station, 90 Bloomingbank Road.
The vehicle was parked in one of the spots behind the Riverside Swim Club between 6:20 a.m. and 1 p.m. A view of those spots is obscured from the street.
The cost to replace the device was estimated to be $2,300, according to the police report.
Burglary
A resident of the 2400 block of 6th Avenue, North Riverside, reported on July 3 that during the overnight hours, someone forced open the locked service door of the garage, damaging the door frame. Nothing appeared to be missing from the garage.
Also on the morning of July 3, the owner of a home in the 2300 block of 4th Avenue, North Riverside, reported that there were pry marks on the service door of the garage, but no entry was made to the building and nothing was missing.
North Riverside police also were called to the 2400 block of 7th Avenue on the morning of July 3 to investigate a garage burglary. A homeowner found the overhead garage door open and a Briggs and Stratton Storm Responder generator missing.
On July 6, North Riverside police responded to the 2400 block of 9th Avenue after a homeowner called to report that several items had been stolen out of the garage, including a Craftsman lawnmower, Griden power washer, an air compressor, a tile cutter, a Craftsman framing gun, a Dewalt nail gun and eight black steel chairs.
There were no signs of forced entry to the garage.
A 33-year-old Woodridge woman reported to North Riverside police that between 4:40 and 5:30 p.m., July 1, someone forced open the driver’s side door of her 2001 Chevy Tahoe, which was parked in the Sears lot at the North Riverside Park Mall, 7501 Cermak Road, and removed her in-car Jensen CD/DVD player, Fosgate amplifier and two Kicker Punch sub-woofers.
A resident of the 8800 block of 45th Place, Brookfield, reported that between 9:30 p.m. on June 29 and 5 p.m. on June 30, someone entered her possibly unlocked 2007 Mitsubishi Galant and removed a pair of eyeglasses and some personal documents.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, June 30-July 8, 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
