A 59-year-old Waukegan man faces felony identity theft charges after he allegedly tried to buy a $76,000 SUV at Castle Buick, 7400 Cermak Road in North Riverside, using a Wilmington man’s name.

Phillip A. May on June 22 reportedly filled out an online loan application to buy the vehicle, uploading a driver’s license with his photo but using another man’s name. An employee at the dealership noticed, however, that the driver’s license included a birth date that didn’t match the one on a credit check and misspelled the word “Wilmington” as “Wimmington.”

May reportedly paid a 24-year-old Chicago man $50 to drive him to the dealership on June 23, arriving there around 8 p.m. When he told the salesman he was there to pick up the SUV, he was escorted to the dealership’s manager who began asking questions and requested to see May’s driver’s license and Social Security card.

At that time May said he left those items in the “Uber” that dropped him off and said he would call the driver and retrieve them. May then walked to the parking lot of CVS about a block away and got into the black Nissan Maxima he was seen exiting when he arrived at the dealership.

Police pulled over the Nissan and detained May and the driver, who was later charged with driving on a suspended license and having no proof of insurance. North Riverside police asked Will County Sheriff’s Police to notify the man whose identity had been stolen. The victim confirmed he would press charges against May.

 

Construction workers fight over equipment

Riverside police responded to Central School, 61 Woodside Road on June 27 at 7:25 a.m. after one of the constructions workers employed to assist in the renovation of the school allegedly punched another worker in the face in response to being allegedly spat on.

According to the police report, the two men – a 54-year-old from Earlville and a 52-year-old from Joliet – were arguing about a piece of equipment when the Earlville man allegedly spat in the face of the Joliet man.

The Earlville man reportedly denied spitting at his co-worker, but a witness reportedly corroborated the Joliet man’s allegation. According to the report, the Earlville man allegedly spat twice in the other’s face, and that the Joliet man said he punched him in self-defense.

 The victim said he didn’t want to press charges.

 

Burglary, theft

Riverside police responded to a residence in the 100 block of West Quincy Street on June 27 just before 1 a.m. after a resident called to reported that at some point within the prior four hours someone entered his garage and removed a light blue Cannondale mountain bike.

The victim told police that the garage had been secured, but police reported no signs of forced entry.

A resident of the 8100 block of 30th Street, North Riverside, called police on the morning of June 24 to report that a bicycle had been stolen from her garage sometime after noon on June 23.

The victim stated that the side service door to the garage was unlocked but that the only way to get the bike out was to open the overhead door, which the offender apparently closed after exiting with the bike.

A resident of an apartment building in the 9000 block of Cermak Road, North Riverside, called police on June 27 to report that someone had stolen a boys black bicycle with red stripes from the building’s basement laundry room.

While the door to the room is typically locked, the victim told police it’s possible the door might have been left unlocked. The victim said she noticed the bike missing on June 25.

An employee of Irish Times, 8869 Burlington Ave. in Brookfield, called police on June 22 just before noon to report that sometime after the bar was closed up for the night on June 21, someone took three patio chairs from the outdoor dining area. The chairs were valued at $25 each.

 

Copper stolen

The property manager of an office building at 7234 Ogden Ave. in Riverside informed police on the morning of June 26 that some copper pipe was removed from one of the five outdoor air-conditioning condensers outside the building.

The theft likely took place during the overnight hours, because there had been no complaints of the air-conditioning not working in the past week.

 

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, June 22-28, 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