Riverside police arrested a 34-year-old jewelry thief from Chicago March 12 after Brookfield police confirmed she had stolen from a household in Brookfield.
On Jan. 16, Brookfield police saw a critical reach alert from Elmwood Park police stating they were investigating a theft involving a home cleaner whose recent client list included a home on the 3500 block of Grand Boulevard that had been serviced on Nov. 24, 2024. North Riverside police ran the woman’s information through the statewide police database and learned she had pawned jewelry at a shop in Chicago on Nov. 24 and 25.
Brookfield police spoke to an emergency contact for the client in Brookfield, who said “it was highly possible” there was jewelry missing from the house. The woman said the resident, her mother, was a jewelry designer and that any of her jewelry that was pawned would stand out.
On Jan. 29, the woman told police she was still working to figure out what jewelry could be missing from her mother’s collection. Police provided the woman with receipts of the items that were pawned, and the woman “immediately stated” some of them were her mother’s. The next day, Brookfield police retrieved the items the cleaner had pawned from a shop in Chicago and shared photos of the jewelry with the woman.
On March 7, the woman contacted Brookfield police and said seven of the photographed items were pieces of jewelry that belonged to her mother. Brookfield police planned to arrest the cleaner at her March 12 court date but later learned Riverside police had already done so. The woman refused to speak with Brookfield police at the central lockup in Berwyn; the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office approved a felony charge of theft over $500 but under $10,000 against the woman before police processed her and set a March 26 court date. The woman remained in custody so Riverside police could issue charges against her as well.
DUI caught by fellow driver
Riverside police arrested a drunk driver March 6 after receiving a call that the woman was driving recklessly.
Around 7 p.m., West Central Consolidated Communications dispatch advised police of a reckless driver heading west on East Burlington Street onto Forest Avenue from Longcommon Road. According to WC3, the caller was behind the driver’s car, a white Jeep, and saw it “traveling as if the driver was drunk” while narrowly missing an Amazon truck.
Police later learned the caller saw the car run a stop sign on East Burlington Street before the driver got out of the car and briefly yelled at her before resuming driving, crossing into the oncoming lane and nearly hitting another vehicle before running another stop sign.
An officer who began following the car’s path saw it drive west past First Avenue before turning south onto Golf Road from Ridgewood Road. The officer followed the car onto Brookfield Avenue and observed it “crossing the double yellow lines and weaving within its lane” from Hollywood Avenue to Arden Avenue before activating their squad car’s emergency lights to pull the car over near Prairie Avenue and Burlington Avenue. According to police, the car continued west slowly before coming to a stop on Burlington Avenue near Vernon Avenue.
The officer explained the reason for the stop to the driver and smelled “a very strong odor” of alcohol coming from inside the car. The driver agreed to exit the vehicle at the officer’s request, and they saw her “sway and stagger” as she walked before leaning on her car while standing. The officer also smelled alcohol on the woman’s breath and saw she had bloodshot, glassy eyes.
The woman told the officer she had been coming from the St. Mary School in Riverside and that she had only one Guinness beer before driving. Police said the woman was “extremely talkative and argumentative” and asked police to let her go because she was almost home. When asked, the woman first consented to field sobriety tests before changing her mind. The woman began to pull away when the officer told her she was being placed under arrest, and Brookfield police assisted the officer in handcuffing her.
While at the central lockup in Berwyn, the woman refused to take a chemical breath test and told police she wanted to speak to a lawyer. Police placed the woman in a cell before booking and processing her on DUI charges; she was later released with an April 18 court date set.
Drunk driver arrested after speeding
Riverside police arrested a drunk driver March 12 after observing her speeding.
Around 3 a.m., an officer on patrol witnessed a car speeding while heading south on First Avenue and confirmed it was going 60 mph using squad car radar in the 40-mph zone.
After pulling the car over, the officer spoke with the driver and observed a passenger in the backseat. When asked, the driver was able to provide her driver’s license but said she could not show proof of insurance because she had recently purchased a new phone. Her driver’s license later came back clear, police said. The officer noticed she spoke slowly and slurred her words and smelled of alcohol. The officer noticed a cup with pink liquid in the center cup holder, which the woman said was pink lemonade. When asked, the woman handed the cup to the officer, who found it smelled alcoholic.
The officer also noticed “green leafy substance debris” on the center console; when the officer asked if the woman had any contraband, she handed them a clear baggie of cannabis. The officer asked the woman to exit the vehicle and noticed she had bloodshot eyes before asking her to take field sobriety tests. During the tests, the woman struggled with her balance and started before the officer was finished with the instructions. The woman agreed to take a preliminary breath test, which showed a .141 blood alcohol content.
Police arrested the woman and inventoried her car, finding a bottle of Patron tequila in the backseat. An officer transported the woman’s passenger to the Riverside Police Department lobby to await a ride while another officer took the woman to central lockup in Berwyn. During questioning, the woman told police she had been driving home from Tipsy’s Tap in Berwyn and agreed to take another breath test, which showed a .109 blood alcohol content.
Police booked the woman on her DUI charges and released her after setting an April 4 court date.
These items were obtained from the Riverside Police Department reports dated March 6-12 and the Brookfield Police Department reports dated March 10-17; they represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Anyone named in these reports has only been charged with a crime and cases have not yet been adjudicated. We report the race of a suspect only when a serious crime has been committed, the suspect is still at large and police have provided us with a detailed physical description of the suspect as they seek the public’s help in making an arrest.
