Riverside cops warn of apartment burglaries
Riverside police on Jan. 23 issued a bulletin to people living in two downtown apartment complexes, asking them for any information in the wake of four burglaries during the past month.
Three of the burglaries occurred in the apartment complex at 63 Forest Ave., while one took place at the complex at 22 East Ave. The two large apartment complexes stand next to each other in downtown Riverside. They are operated by two different management companies.
Police Chief Thomas Weitzel said the burglaries were unusual in that whoever is breaking into the units has left behind no signs of forced entry.
“In each case it’s believed that entry was made by a front door, and very little force, if any, was used,” said Weitzel in a press release issued last week.
The offenders in each break-in stole electronic equipment, such as flat-panel TVs, cameras and computers. Since neither building is equipped with interior surveillance cameras, said Weitzel, police have been unable to establish any firm leads.
“In both buildings the lobbies have secured doors in front and back, and police do not have access to the hallways without being buzzed in,” Weitzel said.
Police are hoping someone may have witnessed items being carried from one of the units. Officers have hand-delivered alert bulletins to all of the residents at both apartment complexes and have asked the property managers to post the bulletins in the common areas of both buildings.
The first burglary was reported Dec. 25 at the 63 Forest Ave. address. Two subsequent burglaries were reported in that complex on Jan. 20 and Jan. 21. The fourth burglary was reported at 22 East Ave. on Jan. 21.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Sgt. Frank Lara at 708-447-2127 or at flara@riverside.il.us.
Pinched for burglary … again
Getting charged with three counts of burglary and needing to post bond to get out of Cook County Jail a little more than a month ago wasn’t enough to convince Lyons resident Brandon Kamykowski to try something different.
Arrested again by Brookfield police on Jan. 25, Kamykowski, 18, is back behind bars, charged with one more count of burglary. This time he’s being held without bond.
A patrol officer around 1:20 a.m. reported observing two subjects, later identified as Kamykowski and 24-year-old Brookfield resident Patrick A. Georgeson, walking southbound from the 3500 Sunnyside/Oak Avenue alley.
Kamykowski reportedly was wearing a bandana over his face, sunglasses and a black fedora with a hood pulled over it. The officer stopped to question the two, because there have been a number of burglaries in that area in recent months.
Later, police tracked two sets of footprints in the snow from the spot where police stopped the two men to a number of garages in the 3400 and 3500 blocks of Sunnyside Avenue.
The footprints led to a garage with an unsecured service door in the 3400 block of Sunnyside. Inside the garage were fresh snow prints and a glove that matched one Georgeson was wearing. The car inside the garage had been rifled through; some loose change was missing.
In addition to burglary, both Kamykowski and Georgeson were charged with criminal trespassing.
Two other vehicle break-ins were reported in Brookfield on Jan. 21, one in the 3400 block of Vernon Avenue and one in the 3500 block of Sunnyside Avenue. In both cases, the car doors had been left unlocked. The vehicles were ransacked, but nothing appeared to be missing, according to the reports.
Bobcat stolen
An employee of a company hired to perform snow removal at the North Riverside Plaza shopping center at Harlem Avenue and Cermak Road called police on Jan. 26 at about 7 a.m. to report that sometime during the previous day a white and rust colored 2000 Bobcat S250 had been stolen.
The vehicle, valued at $7,000 is always parked by the salt pile in the middle of the parking lot, according to the report. It was last seen there on Jan. 25 at 7:30 a.m.
Helping hand
An 89-year-old Brookfield woman called police on Jan. 24 around noon, because she wanted to go to the store, but she was unable to open her garage door. A police officer responded to the woman’s address, was able to open the door for the woman and made sure it was secured prior to the woman’s departure for the store.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, Jan. 20-26, 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
