Komarek School admin office burglarized
Someone broke into Komarek School, 8940 24th St. in North Riverside, over the weekend and stole cash and other items from the administrative offices, police confirmed on Monday.
Police released few details about the break-in, saying they didn’t want to jeopardize an ongoing investigation.
North Riverside Police Commander Christian Ehrenberg stated that school custodial staff discovered the burglary at 6 a.m. on Feb. 13 and called police. Word of the break in began filtering out Monday morning via the Komarek School PTA’s Facebook page.
The school district delayed the start of classes until 10 a.m. on Monday to allow police to search the school prior to allowing students into the building.
On Monday afternoon, District 94 Superintendent Brian Ganan sent a letter to parents, thanking them for their patience and cooperation regarding the late start. The school’s principal, Jason Gold, visited classrooms “to make sure that all students felt safe,” Ganan wrote.
It’s not the first time someone has stolen school property from Komarek School. In April 2015, someone stole five laptop computers valued at $900 each from the school library. No one was ever charged with that theft.
Dogs charge woman, pet
Riverside police issued a dog bite ticket to the owner of two dogs that got out of the yard and charged a woman who was walking her small Welsh terrier in the 100 block of Akenside Road on Feb. 3 at about 3:20 p.m.
The victim said that one of the attacking dogs, described by police as Labrador retriever mixes, bit down on her dog’s left rear leg and that she fought off the dogs as she tried to escape down her driveway and into the house. She later took her dog, which weighs about 20 pounds, to a veterinary hospital for treatment. The wounds were described as deep puncture wounds requiring stitches and tendon damage; the woman sustained a small cut to her thumb, according to police.
According to police, the owner of the two attacking dogs said his gate was left open by mistake, and he offered to pay the victim’s vet bills.
Burglary
A resident of the 3700 block of Arthur Avenue, Brookfield, reported to police on the morning of Feb. 6 that during the overnight hours someone entered his unlocked vehicle, which was parked on the street, and removed about $5 in loose change from the center console.
In addition, several items were missing from the rear hatchback area, including a Nintendo Wii game system, four Wii videogames, a Logitec web cam and an El Gato capture card.
A Brookfield woman contacted police on Feb. 11 to report that 400 to 500 folding chairs belonging to her fiancé’s party rental business were removed from a garage in the 4100 block of Vernon Avenue.
No one had been in the garage since mid-December, the woman said. However, the business owner’s brother entered the garage on Feb. 11 to collect items for a rental and noticed the folding chairs missing along with six to eight metal bar stools.
Riverside cops warn of IRS scam
On Feb. 10, Riverside police issued a community alert warning residents to be wary of phone calls from people claiming to be U.S. Treasury employees. People answering the calls are told they owe the IRS money and that if they don’t make immediate payment, they’ll be arrested.
According to police, the IRS will never call to demand payment without first mailing a bill. They will also never demand paying taxes without giving the opportunity to appeal or require a specific method of payment. The IRS will also never ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone or threaten to have people arrested.
Police advised anyone receiving such a call to report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 800-366-4484.
Egg tossers
Police charged a 20-year-old Riverside woman, an 18-year-old Forest View man and a North Riverside girl with criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct after the three were found on the roof of a building in the first block of East Burlington Street in downtown Riverside.
Someone called police after observing a ladder hanging down from an access door that’s usually closed at the rear of the property, which faces the railroad tracks. Police found the trio hiding on the roof, along with two egg containers, one of which was empty.
One of the three reportedly told police that they had gone up to the roof to hang out and to throw eggs at passing train cars.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, Feb. 3-Feb. 12, 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
