Just nine hours after he had fled the scene, police arrested a man suspected of the June 9 strong-arm robbery of a Riverside convenience store.
Isaiah J. Johnson, 26, of Chicago, was charged with one count of robbery, a Class 2 felony, and is being held without bond at Cook County Jail while awaiting trial. If convicted, Johnson faces between three and seven years in prison.
His criminal history includes arrests for aggravated assault with a weapon, theft, battery and drug offenses, police said.
According to police, Johnson entered the 7-Eleven at 2600 Harlem Ave. at 5 p.m., sticking a pen at the bottom of the store’s entrance door to prevent it from closing all the way. Johnson apparently believed he could be locked in or out of the store.
Police later recovered the pen, which reportedly had Johnson’s fingerprints on it.
Johnson allegedly selected items from store shelves and brought them to the counter. When he began grabbing money out of the cash register, police said, a store employee tried to stop him and a physical struggle ensued. Johnson allegedly was able to grab several hundred dollars and some merchandise before fleeing the store in a light blue Buick sedan.
The employee, who was not injured during the struggle, snapped a photo of the vehicle and its license plate as it drove off. Police traced the car to a residence in the 7300 block of South Halsted Avenue in Chicago and staked it out.
Police discovered the vehicle nearby and apprehended Johnson when he exited the residence at about 2 a.m. on June 10. He reportedly confessed to the robbery during police questioning.
Burglary
A resident of a multifamily building in the 8800 block of 45th Place in Brookfield contacted police on June 4 to report that his unit had been burglarized. The victim told police the break-in happened sometime between 4:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The victim told police he believed the door to his unit had been forced open. Missing from the living room was a PlayStation 4 videogame system, two controllers and a handful of videogames. The victim also stated a Movado watch was missing from a dresser drawer in the bedroom.
The missing items were valued at about $1,400, according to the police report.
Thieves target car dealer
For the second time in less than two weeks, vehicles were stolen from a North Riverside car dealership while they were being unloaded from a truck.
On May 30, police responded to McCarthy Ford, 2100 Harlem Avenue, after the dealership’s manager called to report that two Ford Escape cars were stolen. According to the police report, six vehicles were delivered to the business around 2:45 p.m. As vehicles were being unloaded from the truck, the manager reported seeing two of them, one blue and one black, exiting the lot at a high rate of speed.
The delivery driver had parked the vehicles temporarily in the dealership lot and left the keys inside. The cars were valued at $25,530 each.
Eight days earlier, someone stole a 2018 GMC Terrain from another North Riverside car dealer. The SUV was left unattended while other vehicles were being unloaded from a transport trailer.
Another vehicle involved with that theft was stolen earlier from a car dealer in Forest Park.
Vehicle break-ins
Brookfield police responded to the 3800 block of Grove Avenue on the morning of June 4 after a resident called to report that two vehicles left parked on the street had been entered and ransacked overnight. Missing from one of the vehicles was a phone charger. It wasn’t clear if anything of value was taken from the other vehicle.
Riverside police responded to the 300 block of Lionel Road on June 4 after a resident called to report that someone had entered his unlocked vehicle, which was parked in the driveway, and ransacked the interior. Nothing was reported missing.
A resident of South Cowley Road in Riverside contacted police on June 4 to report that someone had entered her unlocked vehicle, which was parked outside overnight. The center console and glove box were rifled through. Nothing of value appeared to be missing.
A resident of the 500 block of Byrd Road in Riverside called police on June 8 to report that overnight someone had entered her vehicle and had stolen a small zipper bag containing loose change.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, May 30-June 10, 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
