Idea of stealing scrap scrapped

Two men were arrested in the wee hours of Sept. 26 and charged with misdemeanor counts of theft and criminal trespass to property by the Brookfield police. The men, 36-year-old Daniel Block of Berwyn and 20-year-old Matthew Mahood of Willowbrook, were charged with stealing used vehicle parts from Truckworks, a truck automotive shop located at 8928 W. 47th St. The men were in a green Chevrolet pickup truck when they were pulled over. At first they told the officer they thought the items in the bed of the pickup truck were refuse. They said they found the used vehicle parts next to a Dumpster and that the parts were in plain view.

The owner of Truckworks was contacted and he told the officer he gave no one permission to take scrap parts. The officer told the men that if they returned the parts to Truckworks no charges would be filed against them. But as the men began unloading the items, the officer noticed that the Dumpster the men said they had taken the parts from was on the northernmost edge of the Truckworks property about 75-00 feet from the public sidewalk. No Trespassing signs were clearly posted. The owner decided to file a complaint and Block and Mahood were arrested. According to the police report, Mahood agreed to speak with the officer and said he and Block had been driving around the area the week before and saw the bin containing the scrap parts behind the Truckworks building. They loaded up their pickup truck and sold the material to a scrap yard.

Graffiti on funeral home

A 30-year-old LaGrange Park man, Erik Lirette of 1115 Kemman, was arrested and charged with criminal defacement of property for allegedly spraying the phrase, “I see you Thank PWC” on the exterior of the Hitzeman Funeral Home, 9431 W. 31st Street, Brookfield, about 3:22 a.m. on Sept. 25.

LaGrange Park police contacted the Brookfield Police Department that morning and told them Lirette had been arrested and that he had confessed to spray painting several buildings in LaGrange Park. They told Brookfield police that they were about to release Lirette and asked if the Brookfield police wanted to speak to him. A security camera had filmed the spray painting of the funeral home, and the man in the video reportedly resembled Lirette. An officer took Lirette to the Brookfield Police Station where he was questioned.

At first, Lirette said he had not spray-painted any buildings in Brookfield. Then the officer asked Lirette to think about his answer and asked specifically if he had spray-painted a funeral home on 31st Street. He allegedly replied, “Yeah, I did do that.” The officer showed a photo of the graffiti on the exterior of Hitzeman. “Yeah, I did that. That is mine,” Lirette said, according to the police report. The Brookfield sergeant asked Lirette what the words meant, but Lirette reportedly did not know, adding that he was extremely drunk at the time. The sergeant noted that Lirette had a tattoo of a spray paint can on his calf.

RB student cited for possession of pot

A 17-year-old Brookfield girl was given a local ordinance citation, Friday morning, after Riverside Brookfield High School Dean of Students Dave Sibley found 2.8 grams of marijuana in her car parked in the Rockefeller Avenue student parking lot at RB. Sibley reportedly stopped her as she walked into the school because she smelled strongly of marijuana. According the police report Sibley asked the girl where she had been and she said she had been in her car smoking up. Sibley asked if there was more marijuana in her car and the student reportedly said she didn’t think so.

According to the report, Sibley then told the student he would search her car. Students must agree to allow school officials to search their cars as part of the agreement they sign to be able to park in the Rockefeller lot. Brookfield police were called and stood by as the girl’s gray BMW was searched. Sibley reportedly found marijuana in the rear compartment of the driver’s seat and also found a purple tobacco grinder with green leafy residue in the front passenger side of the car.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, Sept. 24-30, 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 Skolnik