A truck stolen from a parking lot in the 9100 block of Plainfield Road in Brookfield late on May 22 was recovered undamaged in Chicago on May 24, police said.
The truck’s owner told police she learned of the truck’s theft by a man who observed it apparently abandoned and called a phone number of the side of vehicle in hopes of finding the owner.
The man told police he discovered the truck parked, with the lights on but the engine off, at a Halsted Street address on the morning of May 23. When no one came for the truck the next morning, he began calling the numbers listed on the truck.
The owner told police that while the truck appeared undamaged, three pallet jacks valued at about $700 each had been taken from the rear of the truck. Police later learned security camera video showed the truck parked at the Brookfield lot on May 22 at about 10:50 p.m. A vehicle then pulls into the lot and several people exit it and eventually drive away with the truck.
Vehicle break-ins
A resident of the 400 block of Addison Road, Riverside, went to police last week to report that someone had entered his vehicle, which as parked in the driveway, overnight on May 16-17 and removed a Lenovo Idea Pad laptop computer from the rear seat.
The victim told police he was able to track the laptop to several locations in Berwyn and Riverside.
Riverside police responded to the 300 block of Addison Road on the morning of May 25 after a resident called to report that someone had entered two unlocked vehicles, which were parked in the driveway overnight, and removed an unknown amount of loose change.
Catalytic converter thefts
North Riverside police responded to North Riverside Park Mall, 7501 Cermak Road, on May 24 around 11:35 a.m. after mall security employee reported someone looking under vehicles in the parking lot.
The employee told police he observed three people looking under a Mitsubishi Outlander in the lot. After examining the undercarriage of the vehicle, police learned the catalytic converter was missing.
The vehicle carrying the offenders, a gray Hyundai Sonata, was last seen on red-light camera video eastbound on Cermak Road at Harlem Avenue.
A resident of 14th Avenue in North Riverside called police on the morning of May 26 to report that during the overnight hours someone had sawn the catalytic converter from the undercarriage of his Mitsubishi Outlander, which was parked on the street in front of his residence.
Forgery
A woman went to North Riverside police on May 24 to report that someone had forged documents in her name in order to fraudulently obtain funds from a breast cancer research foundation.
The victim told police she had worked at a southwest suburban outpatient clinic between 2018 and 2020 and that a patient there claimed to suffer from multiple serious illnesses, including cancer, but that she actually was not ill. The patient stopped coming to the clinic after staff learned she was lying about her condition.
The victim recently received word from the foundation that an application for funds had been submitted on letterhead of the victim’s former employer from the former patient. The application was electronically signed in the victim’s name, indicating the patient had been treated for cancer at the clinic since 2016. The victim confirmed that the patient had not, in fact, been treated for cancer at her former employer’s clinic.
The investigation continues.
Riverside crash injures two
Riverside police ticketed a woman after she reportedly ignored a stop sign at Harlem Avenue while eastbound on Lindberg Road on May 23 at about 7:55 a.m., crashing her 2010 Chevy into a 2018 Chrysler that was southbound on Harlem Avenue.
The drivers of both vehicles sustained unspecified injuries and were taken to hospitals by paramedics. The impact of the crash sent the Chrysler into the northbound lanes of traffic, where it collided with a Mack truck whose driver was not injured.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, May 23-30, 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
