Apartment alarm system damaged

Riverside police charged a 15-year-old boy with felony counts of criminal damage to property and criminal damage to a fire alarm system after he allegedly soaked two separate alarm panels with water inside a Lincoln Avenue apartment complex, causing thousands of dollars in damage on July 9.

The boy was also charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct after he reportedly used a garden hose to spray the alarm panels, which activated an alarm to which police and fire personnel responded.

Officials reported finding puddles of water throughout the basement and all over the alarm panels and pull stations of the complex, which comprises the addresses of 109, 111 and 113 Lincoln Ave.

Police also discovered a 15-year-old boy, soaked with water, in a stairway. After questioning, the boy reportedly admitted spraying the alarm equipment with water.

Two charged with phone theft

Two men face theft charges in Brookfield after allegedly being involved in a plan to steal and then sell back to its owner a cellphone last week.

According to police, the victim was an employee of a business located in the 9000 block of Ogden Avenue. On July 7 about 10:15 a.m., he noticed his iPhone missing from his desk, which is near the front of the business. The victim later called his phone’s number and talked to a man, who said the victim would have to pay $200 to get his phone back.

The victim went to police, who had the victim arrange a meeting in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven in the 6600 block of 16th Street in Berwyn. At that location Brookfield police took a 22-year-old Berwyn man into custody. He was in possession of the victim’s phone, which he said had been given to him to a 23-year-old Stickney man who owed him money. Police later arrested the Stickney man and charged him with theft. The Berwyn man was charged with theft/possessing stolen merchandise.

The phone was returned to the victim by police. 

Stolen safe recovered

A large, heavy safe stolen from Paisan’s Pizza, 3720 Grand Blvd., during the overnight hours of July 12-13, was found unopened and with the contents intact next to a townhome in the 3700 block of Sunnyside Avenue shortly after police noticed damage to the doors of the business.

About 7 a.m., a police officer observed that one of the glass entry doors was shattered. Further investigation revealed a large rock on the floor near the broken door and an open rear door.

While the cash registers appeared undisturbed, two safes were missing. About an hour later, the larger of the two safes was found near the townhome. A small safe, which did not contain cash, remains missing.

Car vs. bike in Riverside

Riverside police responded to two more car versus bike incidents last week, including one in which the passenger of a vehicle stopped in heavy traffic in the southbound lane of traffic on First Avenue just north of Ridgewood Road opened the door into, clipping a bicyclist as he rode by.

On July 13 at about 1:30 p.m., police responded to First and Ridgewood, where they found a 39-year-old Chicago man on the ground in the parkway. Police learned that a 2003 Cadillac Escalade was stopped in the southbound lane of First Avenue in heavy traffic due to vehicles trying to get to Brookfield Zoo.

A 48-year-old Roscoe, Illinois, woman reportedly opened the passenger door and struck the bicyclist on his left side, throwing him from his bike. The man suffered minor injuries and refused to be transported to the hospital.

The passenger who opened the door was issued a ticket for opening a vehicle door in traffic.

According to Police Chief Thomas Weitzel, the intersection at First and Forest/Ridgewood continues to be extremely congested, especially on weekends, due to work being done there by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.

Riverside police have handled nine vehicle accidents and has made 45 traffic arrests in the area between Ridgewood Road and Waubansee Road since work started in June.

On July 12 at about 12:15 p.m., Riverside police learned of another car versus bike accident at the intersection of Harlem Avenue and Blackhawk Road. The driver of the motor vehicle walked into the police station to report that he was turning right on to Blackhawk from Harlem when a bicycle struck the side of his car.

The bicyclist reportedly got back on his bike and left the scene immediately. 

Can’t help you, buddy

A 36-yearold Brookfield man called police on July 9 at about 9:20 a.m., complaining that not only had his girlfriend locked him out of their apartment in the 3800 block of Sunnyside Avenue, but there was another man inside.

Police learned that what the man said was, in fact, true. However, police told the man, since his girlfriend lives at the residence she can invite whoever she wants over to visit and that police had no authority to kick the man out, even if his girlfriend was cheating on him.

Battle of the fence

Brookfield police reported that ticketed a 58-year-old woman for criminal damage to property after she reportedly took it upon herself to tear down a section of lattice work atop a fence that her neighbor had erected on the west side of her yard in the 8700 block of Rockefeller Avenue on July 9 at about 10:20 a.m.

The woman reportedly tore off the lattice, claiming it made the fence taller than the village code allowed. 

Passed out in stairwell

Brookfield police charged a 19-year-old resident of the village with felony possession of a controlled substance, possession of cannabis and possession of drug paraphernalia after he was found passed out in the rear stairwell of an apartment building in the 8900 block of Grant Avenue on July 8 at about 7:30 a.m.

According to police, the man didn’t know why he was lying in the stairwell. They also reported finding a plastic bag containing cannabis and one containing seven pills that were determined to be alprazolam (Xanax), a prescription drug and controlled substance used to treat anxiety disorders.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, July 7-13, 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