A 21-year-old Chicago woman wanted for allegedly trying to cash a fraudulent check in Brookfield last July has been charged with one count of felony forgery after Chicago police who stopped her on Jan. 11 for a traffic violation turned her over to local detectives, because there was a warrant for her arrest.

According to police Latisha A. Sabbs presented a check from Walmart for $759.63, along with a state ID, to an employee at the Brookfield Currency Exchange, 9450 Ogden Ave. on the evening of July 14, 2020.

The employee immediately was suspicious of the check, according to the police report, due to a similar fraudulent check being cashed at the business three days earlier. The employee told the woman, later identified as Sabbs, he was calling police and she left the business.

A few days later, Walmart officials confirmed the check was fraudulent and that Sabbs had formerly worked at Walmart, though she was no longer employed with the company at that time.

Efforts in the next month to locate Sabbs were unsuccessful, said police, who obtained a warrant for her arrest in September. On Jan. 11 at 1 a.m., Chicago police notified Brookfield police that they had taken Sabbs into custody on the warrant during a traffic stop.

 

Woman hit by car charged with battery

A 19-year-old Cicero woman struck by a vehicle as she stepped off the curb outside Entrance 3 on the west side of North Riverside Park Mall wound up being charged with battery after she allegedly responded by punching and pepper-spraying the driver.

According to the police, a Nissan driving northbound along the inner ring road struck the Cicero woman on her left side, causing her to fall to the ground. The driver, who said she did not see the woman enter the crosswalk, reportedly got out of the car to check on the woman. 

At that time, according to the police report, the “very irate” woman who’d been struck by the car punched the driver in the face three times before taking a can of pepper spray from her pocket and spraying it in the driver’s face.

Police issued the driver of the Nissan a ticket for failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk. They charged the Cicero woman with one count of battery.

 

Burglary to vehicle

The service manager of Fuller’s Car Wash Equipment, 9124 47th St. in Brookfield, called police on the morning of Jan. 5 to report that overnight someone had broken the rear passenger side window of a service van parked in a fenced lot and stole several items.

Among the things taken were an oxygen tank; an acetylene tank, torch and hose; a welding machine and welding rod holder; and other power tools.

North Riverside police responded to the 8900 block of 24th Street on Jan. 12 at about 3:40 p.m. after a resident called to report that sometime after 8 p.m. on Jan. 11 someone had entered his unlocked vehicle, which was parked on the street, and ransacked the glove box and center console. The victim reported that between $20 and $30 in cash was missing from the center console.

 

Gunshots reported

Brookfield police responded to the 4600 block of Eberly Avenue on Jan. 12 around 10:25 p.m. after two different people called to report hearing gun shots in the area.

While police canvassed the area, which turned up no evidence of gunfire, two officers reported hearing what sounded like several more gun shots that appeared to be coming from the industrial area of LaGrange, west of Eberly Avenue and north of 47th Street.

The officers notified LaGrange police of their observations.

 

Rental car stolen

A black 2006 Jeep Commander, a rental vehicle left running and unattended in front of Advanced Automotive Care, 9018 Ogden Ave. in Brookfield, was stolen from the lot at about 10:50 a.m. on Jan. 6, according to police.

An employee called police after observing a white BMW back into the parking lot and then seeing the Jeep leave the lot with the BMW following behind. The employee attempted to follow the vehicles as they drove away westbound on Ogden Avenue, but lost sight of them.

Surveillance cameras in the area showed the vehicles head southbound on Eberly Avenue, approaching 47th Street.

 

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, Jan. 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