North Riverside cellphone store robbed

North Riverside police arrested two Chicago boys, age 14 and 16, for the armed robbery of a cellphone store on Nov. 14 and are searching for an adult male who reportedly served as the getaway driver but managed to elude police.

According to police, the two boys entered the Sprint store at 8350 Cermak Road about 11:15 a.m. One of the boys reportedly pulled a handgun from his waistband and demanded money from the cash register.

When an employee told the boy that money was kept in a safe, the boy allegedly grabbed the employee by the shirt and pushed him into a back room. As the boy with the gun grabbed cash from a drawer, the other filled two small garbage cans with phones from a storage cabinet.

The two then fled from the store in a green Ford Escape that police later found to have been stolen from a car dealership on Oct. 26. The victims called police as the offenders left the store.

North Riverside police notified other departments of the incident and broadcast a description of the vehicle and the two offenders. A vehicle matching the description was located in heavy traffic on First Avenue approaching I-290 and police initiated a chase that ended when the car crashed into a parked vehicle on Van Buren Street near 9th Avenue in Maywood.

Police apprehended the two teenage boys and reported recovering a black BB gun underneath the seat of the getaway vehicle along with 60 iPhones in the back seat. A third suspect, the alleged getaway driver, was last seen running eastbound on the Prairie Path near 5th Avenue. He reportedly discarded a jacket, which was found in the rear yard of a residence in the 1500 block of 7th Avenue.

 

Wallet, phone stolen from motel

A 30-year-old Jacksonville, Florida, man called police on Nov. 11 at about 2:30 a.m. to report that two women had forced their way into his room at the Colony Motel, 9232 Ogden Ave., Brookfield, and robbed him of his wallet, money and cellphone.

The victim, a truck driver, told police that earlier in the evening he had been using a dating app, called MeetMe, on his cellphone. However, it was unclear to police, who had difficulty communicating with the victim, who spoke Kurdish, whether his use of the app and the appearance of the two females was related.

Police viewed surveillance camera video from the motel, but said that it did not appear that the woman forced their way into the room. However, after being in the room a short time, the women could be seen exiting the room and running, with the victim chasing them.

The victim told police he didn’t want to pursue criminal charges.

 

Riverside burglary suspect pleads guilty

A 39-year-old Riverside man, accused of breaking into several apartments in downtown Riverside in December 2013 and January 2014, pleaded guilty on Nov. 12 to three counts of burglary.

Ronald O. Belousek was sentenced to four years in prison for the crimes by Cook County Judge Geary Kull.

Belousek, who had been in custody at Cook County Jail since being charged on Jan. 30, 2014, was given credit for time already served and was released from custody after his Nov. 12 hearing at the Maybrook courthouse. He is now serving two years’ parole.

Riverside police arrested Belousek on Jan. 29, 2014 as he drove away from the Forest Avenue apartment building where he lived. They were aided in their investigation by a Brookfield police officer who lived on Forest Avenue and hooked up a video surveillance system to his iPad. Riverside police used the set-up for undercover observation.

After arresting Belousek, police were able to obtain permission to search the apartment he shared with a woman. Inside the apartment, police reported finding several items stolen from apartments at 63 Forest Avenue and 22 East Avenue. Police also found that Belousek sold some stolen property on Craigslist and at flea markets.

 

Residential burglary

  • The owners of a home in the 2300 block of Hainsworth Avenue, North Riverside, called police on Nov. 13 about 10:30 p.m. to report that someone had broken into the house and removed several items.

According to the police report, someone entered the house, probably through a bedroom window on the west side of the house, sometime after 8 a.m. Among the items stolen from the home were about $9,000 in cash, a Sony digital camcorder, an iPad and numerous pieces of jewelry valued at $5,000.

  • A resident of the 9100 block of 27th Street, Brookfield, contacted police on Nov. 12 at 10:15 a.m. to report that, sometime in the previous 15 hours, someone tried to gain entry to the residence.

According to the police report, the rear door lock appeared to have been damaged and there were fresh gouges on the side of the door and door frame near the lock. No one gained entry to the home.

 

Burglary to vehicle

A 55-year-old Brookfield man contacted police on the morning of Nov. 15 to report that during the overnight hours someone had entered his 1993 Buick, which was parked at the rear of the property in the 3400 block of Grand Boulevard, off the alley.

Taken from the unlocked vehicle were a state ID card and miscellaneous department store rewards cards.

 

Catalytic converter theft spree

  • North Riverside police reported on the morning of Nov. 13 that sometime during the overnight hours, someone removed the catalytic converters from 10 vehicles scattered throughout the village. Six of the vehicles were Hondas, three were Chevys and one was a Kia.

The vehicles were parked on the street, in driveways or in parking lots behind apartment buildings.

  • Brookfield police reported that the catalytic converter was removed from a 1999 Pontiac Montana parked in the 4400 block of Forest Avenue between 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 7 and 8 a.m. on Nov. 10.

Package stolen from porch

A resident of the 300 block of Desplaines Avenue, Riverside, contacted police last week to report that a UPS package delivered to her front door on the afternoon of Nov. 9 was stolen.

The package contained a women’s silk top valued at about $50.

 

Thanks for the sewage

A resident of the 4500 block of DuBois Boulevard called police on Nov. 9 at about 11:55 a.m. to report that two garbage cans filled with raw sewage had been placed next to his garage overnight.

The homeowner told police that this was the third time where someone has dumped something illegally behind his residence.

Police confirmed that a pair of plastic 33-gallon trash containers holding what appeared to be raw sewage were placed in the alley behind the man’s home. The homeowner told police that he had called a waste removal company to remove the garbage cans.

 

Bike stolen

Riverside police responded to the 3500 block of First Avenue on Nov. 13 at about 2:45 p.m. after a resident reported that someone had taken a women’s purple Huffy 10-speed bicycle, which had been leaning against a vehicle the driveway of the home.

The victim also stated that an unfamiliar bicycle — a gray and white Mongoose BMX-style bike — was left behind in its place.  

 

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, Nov. 9-16, 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.