Police in Riverside and North Riverside are trying to determine whether two incidents, one of them reported as a home invasion, within an hour on the morning of June 17, are related.
Riverside police responded to the 500 block of Berkeley Road at 8:11 a.m. after a homeowner dialed 911 to report that at least one offender had kicked in his front door and gained entry to his home.
According to police, the offender first had rung the doorbell and forced open the door after getting no answer. The homeowner said he often has packages delivered, so didn’t bother answering the bell.
The victim, a concealed carry permit holder, yelled for the offender to leave, and went to retrieve his gun, but the offender and victim never saw one another. Police had no description of the offender, who fled in a dark-colored SUV.
While investigating the scene, Riverside police received word that a similar incident had occurred in North Riverside in the 2400 block of 7th Avenue.
The North Riverside resident called police at 8:47 a.m. to report someone smashing a window to gain entry to her home. The offender fled in a small, black SUV after the resident screamed. The resident stated that earlier someone had rung her door bell and then knocked on the side door, but she didn’t answer.
Still wanted after all these years
A North Riverside resident who had evaded a warrant for his arrest for 18 years had his luck run out on June 11 at about 9 a.m. after a Riverside police officer pulled over his 2016 Hyundai Tucson for blowing a stop sign at the intersection of Westover and Northgate.
The driver, later identified as Jimmy Alvarez, reportedly told police he didn’t have his driver’s license on him. But when the police officer did a computer check, he learned that Alvarez’s license had been revoked since 1986 for prior drunken driving convictions and that the Cook County Sheriff’s Police had issued a warrant for his arrest in January 2000.
Alvarez had been arrested at least four times for driving on a revoked license, according to police, but was able to evade arrest on the warrant by providing police false names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers.
The Cook County State’s Attorney charged Alvarez with felony aggravated driving while revoked and other traffic offenses in addition to serving him with the warrant.
Riverside police, meanwhile, reported they’ve filed paperwork to seize Alvarez’s vehicle under a state law regarding habitual traffic offenders whose license revocation is based on numerous DUI arrests.
Scam narrowly averted
Brookfield police on June 11 were able to reunite a 78-year-old resident with $4,700 he mailed to someone in New York who had attempted to con him out of the money by posing as a family member.
The intended victim told police he got a phone call from someone purporting to be his nephew. The caller said he’d been involved in a drunken driving crash and that his public defender would soon be following up.
A short time later, someone claiming to be a lawyer advised the Brookfield man to deliver $4,700 in money orders overnight to an address in New York and then mail the money receipts to an address in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The intended victim purchased money orders in the amount of $4,700 and sent an overnight envelope to the New York address.
That day, the man was able to make contact with his nephew, who told him he hadn’t been in a crash and had not been arrested. The man called police and the post office, which was able to track down the overnight envelope and confirm that they would be returning it to the intended victim.
Vehicle break-ins
A Chicago woman called police on June 5, a day after someone tried to break into her Chevy Impala, which was parked at the North Riverside Park Mall under the deck near the food court for several hours.
The woman didn’t notice anything out of place until she left the mall. She observed a large hole under the front driver’s door lock, as if someone had attempted to pop the lock.
It did not appear that the offender gained entry to the vehicle.
North Riverside police responded to the parking lot of North Riverside Park Mall, 7501 Cermak Road, on June 5 after a Bensenville woman called to report that someone had broken into her Chevy Colbalt.
According to the police report, the offender smashed out the passenger side window and removed the car’s stereo from the dashboard. The radio was valued at $500.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, June 5-17, 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
