A white Kia Sorrento used by three men during an armed robbery on Jan. 15 on 7th Avenue in North Riverside has been recovered by police and is being processed for evidence.

On Jan. 19, Chicago police informed North Riverside that it had recovered the vehicle in the 500 block of North Albany Avenue. It was subsequently towed to North Riverside.

Initially the vehicle had been described as possibly a Buick, but police subsequently identified the vehicle used in the North Riverside robbery as the same 2016 Kia Sorrento stolen from the 1100 block of Holley Court in Oak Park on Jan.15 between 1 and 4 p.m.

Kia and Hyundai models have been targeted by car thieves for the last several months due to the ease with which they can be stolen.

Typically, thieves break out a rear window to gain entry and then peel the steering column and use a USB cord to start the vehicle. Oak Park police noted in their incident summary from Jan. 15 that shattered glass had been found where the Kia had been parked.

Just prior to 7:30 p.m., the Kia pulled up to the driveway of a home on 7th Avenue in North Riverside. Two masked men wearing all black and carrying firearms robbed a homeowner in his garage, making off with his wallet, keys and cellphone. Police recovered the cellphone about a block away.

  • North Riverside police reported on Jan. 16 at about 5:45 p.m. that an unoccupied 2007 GMC Sierra tow truck backed into a handicapped parking space at the North Riverside Park Mall, 7501 Cermak Road, and was reported to have been involved in a crime in Cicero.

A computer check of the license plate revealed the truck was wanted for investigation of an unspecified felony. Security camera video showed the vehicle arriving at about 4:40 p.m. and two men and two boys exiting it.

Cicero police reportedly did not have probable cause to arrest those who had been in the truck, but police removed the truck from the scene and turned it over to Cicero detectives.

  • A North Riverside police officer on patrol on Jan. 19 at about 5:20 p.m. reported that while on patrol in the 7300 block of Cermak Road, he conducted a computer check of a vehicle’s registration.

The check revealed that the vehicle had been stolen out of New York City in October 2019. The driver reportedly told police the vehicle was hers and that she had bought it three years earlier from a dealership whose name she couldn’t recall.

Police released the driver without charges and gave her a ride to her Berwyn residence. The vehicle was towed from the scene pending an investigation.

  • A man flagged down a Brookfield police officer in the parking lot of Urban Air, 7401 25th St., on Jan. 21 at about 5:50 p.m., reporting that his black 2014 Chrysler 300 sedan had been stolen from the northernmost row of the parking lot.

According to police, a completely whole, but shattered car window was located in the spot where the vehicle had been parked.

At about 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 22, Chicago police phoned to inform North Riverside that the stolen vehicle had been located in the 4900 block of West Arthington Street. However, prior to North Riverside receiving that notification, the vehicle reportedly had been stolen again. As of Jan. 23, the investigation was still active.

I-Pass transponders stolen

The owner of a Brookfield trucking company went to police on Jan. 17 to report that at least three I-Pass tollway transponders had been stolen from the company’s fleet of semi-tractor trucks in June, October and December of 2022.

Catalytic converter thefts

North Riverside police responded to two locations in the 2200 block of Desplaines Avenue on the morning of Jan. 19 after residents called to report that the catalytic converters had been removed from the undercarriages of their vehicles.

Berwyn police also reported a catalytic converter theft overnight. In that incident, according to police, two men threatened a resident with a gun before fleeing in a dark SUV.

Feces on car door handle

A resident of the 100 block of Olmsted Road, Riverside, went to police on the morning of Jan. 16 to report that, for the second time in three days, someone had smeared feces on the driver’s door handle of her vehicle.

The first time it had happened, on Jan. 13, the victim did not report the incident, according to the police report.

Car window smashed out

Brookfield police responded to the 4000 block of Arthur Avenue on the morning of Jan. 18 after a resident called to report that someone had broken out the rear windshield of her vehicle, which was parked on the rear driveway, sometime during the overnight hours.

Police could not locate any object that might have been used to inflict the damage or any security camera video.

DUI

  • Riverside police charged a 34-year-old Cicero man with driving under the influence of alcohol after an officer on patrol reported seeing someone slumped over behind the wheel of a car pulled to the side of the road on eastbound Ogden Avenue near Harlem Avenue on Jan. 18 at about 6:35 p.m.

Police were able to wake up the driver, who said he was driving home from work and that he was tired, so he pulled over to take a nap. When a police officer asked what time he got off work, the driver reportedly told him 8 p.m.

He was also cited for improper parking on a roadway.

  • North Riverside police charged a 53-year-old Westchester woman with driving under the influence of alcohol after an officer on patrol reported seeing an SUV traveling at a high rate of speed and then driving erratically while westbound on Cermak Road from First Avenue on Jan. 22 just after midnight.

While westbound in a construction zone west of 17th Avenue the SUV reached 71 mph before police were able to curb it at Westchester Boulevard. After reportedly failing sobriety tests, the driver was charged with DUI, aggravated speeding and obstructing police for reportedly refusing to cooperate during the traffic stop.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, Jan. 16-22, 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