Brookfield police cited a 38-year-old Brookfield man on Nov. 17 for assault after he reportedly threatened the owner of his mother’s apartment.
Around 9:15 a.m., an officer at the police station spoke with a woman, who said she and her husband are the owners of a property on the 4600 block of Maple Avenue. She said she had been preparing a unit for a new tenant when she heard a loud noise from the common hallway in the back of the building, where she found a man, the adult son of one of her tenants, smoking cannabis. The woman said she told him the building is non-smoking and that he should leave, as he is not a legal tenant. According to police, the woman said the man placed his index finger “within close proximity” of her face and threatened her if he saw her again when he returned. She said she became afraid at the threat and that her husband had to intervene just as he was arriving at the property.
The woman told police she wanted the man cited for assault and removed from the property and that the family has a history of causing incidents in the building. The officer searched previous reports and found police had responded to the man’s mother’s unit nearly 40 times since 2022 for various incidents including domestic complaints, disturbances, thefts, reports of intoxication and psych evaluations.
The woman added that she is in the process of evicting the man’s mother, as she had fallen behind on rent and lost access to electricity and gas in her unit due to not paying for the utilities.
The officer and the village inspector met the woman and her husband at the property, where they made contact with the man’s mother, who “began to shout” over them before accusing them of harassment. She said she had fallen on “hard times,” police said, and could not pay her electricity and gas bills. When the inspector went in to check the conditions of the unit, her son left the apartment, and the officer advised him of the complaint of assault made against him by the owner of the building.
The man denied threatening her but stated he would leave after gathering a few personal items, though he “refused to stand by and receive a local ordinance citation,” police said. After trying to issue the citation, the officer allowed the man to leave the scene due to his antagonizing of them. The officer also provided the date and time of the scheduled adjudication hearing to the property owner, who agreed to attend. The inspector deemed the unit uninhabitable and marked it as such, though the man’s mother refused to vacate, so the officer advised the owners that they would need to follow the proper eviction process through Cook County.
Evidence of trespassing in unrented home
Brookfield police on Nov. 17 investigated a report of trespassing, though no one was arrested.
Around 9:15 a.m., an officer was dispatched to the 3600 block of Cleveland Avenue on a report of trespassing after receiving a call from an employee of Invitation Homes, a house rental company that owns the property in question. The man said the house is listed for rent, but the company had received a notification over the weekend that the real estate agent key box had been tampered with. When he came out to check the property, the man noticed a new “dimple” on the door handle and saw the box was missing, police said.
The man asked the officer to investigate the home after he unlocked the back door. The officer announced their presence inside the house and did not receive a response or find anyone inside, though they did find cookware in the kitchen as well as luggage bags elsewhere. Police noted that the home appeared as if someone had moved in; according to police, it is “well known” the company’s rental listings are relisted by scammers, so they suggested someone had moved in after believing they had spoken with the proper rental agent.
The employee said he would leave notices on the property for the potential inhabitant to contact Invitation Homes. The officer checked with village hall and learned the property’s utilities were still under the company’s name.
These items were obtained from the Brookfield Police Department reports dated Nov. 17-24; 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.
