Paroled man charged with burglary, fraud
A Chicago man with an extensive criminal history and on parole for a 2012 forgery conviction for using stolen credit cards, is back in Cook County Jail after being charged with burglary and unlawful use of a credit card in Riverside.
Robert Fonza, 29, has a bond set at $15,000 and is awaiting trial. He was also charged by Oakbrook Terrace police in connection with an attempted burglary there.
Riverside police took Fonza into custody on Aug. 6 at his home in the 6000 block of South Princeton Avenue in Chicago following a two-week investigation triggered by the theft of a wallet from a restricted area inside the MacNeal Professional Building at 3722 Harlem Ave. on July 25.
A staff member reportedly discovered a man walking through the radiology department and confronted him. At the time, the man said he was lost and looking for a pen before leaving the area. Later that day, a doctor reported that a wallet had been stolen.
That same day, several of the doctor’s credit cards were used at various locations throughout the suburbs. One of those locations was a Super Target in Hillside, where surveillance cameras provided footage of a suspect driving a green Kia. Police were able to trace the vehicle to a Chicago woman, who was reportedly Fonza’s girlfriend.
Police obtained Fonza’s address through his parole officer. Fonza had been on parole since November 2012 after serving five months of a 16-month sentence for forgery stemming from a case at Northwestern University.
Fonza has served time twice previously for credit card fraud-related convictions since 2008. His criminal history, according to Riverside police, includes burglary, theft, assault and fraud in Skokie, Evanston, Chicago and Freeport.
Cops: Drunk man stole bike
A 42-year-old Riverside man, who police picked up twice within a week in Riverside for being drunk in public, was charged on Aug. 10 with stealing an unlocked bicycle from the grounds of the Riverside Public Library back in July.
On Aug. 2, police found the man, who appeared to be very intoxicated and disoriented, in the 100 block of Fairbank Road. At the time, he was riding a blue and silver Rhino mountain bike. Police had paramedics take the man to MacNeal Hospital and impounded the bike, since the man couldn’t prove ownership.
On Aug. 6, a juvenile told police that he had ridden his blue and silver Rhino mountain bike to the library on July 29. He left the bike unlocked near the front door of the library because the brake rubbed against the rear wheel and it was difficult to ride. When he returned to the library a few days later, he found the bike was missing.
Police on Aug. 9 received another call of an intoxicated subject in the downtown area. They found the same 42-year-old man near the railroad crossing in the center of town and charged him with theft of lost or misplaced property.
Bus shelter smashed with bat
Three 14-year-old boys, two from Lyons and one from Stickney, were charged by North Riverside police with mob action and violating curfew after one of them allegedly smashed the glass bus shelter just south of 26th Street on Desplaines Avenue with a baseball bat on Aug. 5 just after midnight.
One of the three was also charged with criminal damage to property. All three boys were turned over to their parents.
Brookfield car break-ins
Brookfield police have reported several car break-ins that occurred in the Hollywood section of the village during the overnight hours of Aug. 10 and 11.
A vehicle parked in the 3600 block of McCormick Avenue appeared to have been rifled through, but nothing was reported missing.
In addition, someone entered three vehicles parked in the lot of an apartment building in the 8500 block of Brookfield Avenue. Nothing appeared to be missing from two of those vehicles, while a flashlight was taken from the third.
A flashlight and other small items were taken from a vehicle parked in the 3500 block of Rosemear Avenue, and loose change was taken from a vehicle parked in the 8500 block of Parkview Avenue.
Losing his cool
A 32-year-old Cicero man faces felony theft charges for allegedly stealing two commercial air-conditioning units and damaging three others at a building in the 7200 block of Ogden Avenue in Riverside on Aug. 5.
Marcelion Perales reportedly told police he stole the units for scrap metal he sold in Chicago for $1,000. Perales was apprehended by River Forest police on Aug. 12 as he attempted to steal units on North Avenue.
He was also charged with criminal damage to property.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, Aug. 5 to Aug. 11, 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.
