WEDGE cops bust alleged pot dealer

A 21-year-old North Riverside resident faces two felony drug charges and a felony weapons charge after police from the West Suburban Enhanced Drug/Gang Enforcement (WEDGE) task force executed a search warrant at a residence in the 2500 block of Burr Oak Avenue in North Riverside on July 28.

Alexander T. Murguia was charged with felony possession of cannabis, felony unlawful delivery of cannabis and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon after police searched his bedroom and reportedly found 33.2 grams of cannabis, packaging materials, a digital scale, an unregistered semiautomatic .38-caliber handgun and more than $2,000 in cash.

In addition, police charged a 24-year-old man who also lives at the residence with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.

Four charged with theft

Riverside police arrested four Chicago boys between the ages of 11 and 17 and charged them with criminal trespassing and theft after they reportedly stole three bicycles from a residence in the 500 block of East Parkway Road on July 23 at 7:50 p.m.

A resident called police to report a burglary in progress, and said the four suspects had fled eastbound on Selborne Road. Police detained one suspect at Longcommon and Selborne, while three others were detained by a Riverside resident in the 400 block of Addison Road.

According to police, the boys had been denied entry to the North Riverside Park Mall, so they crossed 26th Street looking for bikes to steal. They found their opportunity when they spotted an open garage door from the street. All of the stolen bicycles were recovered, police said.

All four boys, reportedly self-admitted gang members, were petitioned to Cook County juvenile authorities. One of the boys, a 14 year old, was out on bond for a July 3 aggravated assault with a handgun in Chicago, according to police. The 17 year old was on probation after being convicted of a crime in 2010 involving a handgun that had been stolen from a burglary in south suburban Posen that same year, police said.

Burglary crew member pinched

A man who was reputedly part of a burglary crew involved in a string of Brookfield incidents in early 2013 was arrested and charged with burglary by Lyons police last week.

Donald L. Johnson, 19, of Chicago, was charged July 25 with one count of residential burglary after he reportedly implicated himself in an incident to Lyons police. His fingerprints reportedly were lifted from the scene of a burglary in the 8500 block of 45th Street in January.

Lyons Police Commander Brian Kuratko said Johnson admitted to being affiliated with Terry Gardner, 20, and Dominic Brown, 22, who were arrested in March as they were burglarizing a home on Chicago’s South Side.

The three were connected to two incidents on Brookfield’s south side. An alert resident gave police a license plate number of a suspicious vehicle, and it led them to the three men. Johnson reportedly has denied involvement in the Brookfield burglaries.

Both Brown and Gardner are presently in state prison serving a four-year sentence for residential burglary. Johnson is being held on $50,000 bond at Cook County Jail, awaiting trial.

No injuries in Riverside rollover

A 19-year-old Chicago Ridge man was ticketed for driving too fast for conditions and driving without insurance after he lost control of his 1998 Ford Explorer and rolled it over on 31st Street just east of First Avenue on July 26 at 1:05 p.m.

When police arrived, they observed the SUV had come to rest on the driver’s door and that the driver had climbed out of the vehicle, apparently unhurt. He refused medical treatment from paramedics.

The man was attempting to turn from northbound First Avenue onto eastbound 31st Street, skidded, struck the curb and then rolled over onto the parkway. The vehicle sustained “extensive damage” according to police.

Aggravated battery

A 17-year-old LaGrange Park man faces a felony charge of aggravated battery to a police officer after he allegedly ran into a Brookfield police officer, knocking him down and injuring his shoulder, during a foot pursuit on July 26 just after 1 a.m.

The police officer stated that Christopher W. Kirstein was acting suspiciously at the Mobil gas station at 9137 Ogden Ave. When the officer instructed Kirstein to come over to him, Kirstein reportedly ran off. As police searched the area, Kirstein allegedly ran out from behind a garage and slammed into the officer, knocking him to the ground.

He was apprehended by another officer nearby. While being questioned at the police station, Kirstein also reportedly smashed a telephone in an interview room into pieces. He was also charged with criminal damage to property.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, July 22-28, 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.