COPS AND ROBBERS

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE LA GRANGE P.D.

Over the last month the Village of LaGrange and surrounding towns have experienced several burglaries to motor vehicles occurring between the hours of 7 PM and 6 AM. The offender(s) are primarily targeting unsecured vehicles with items left out in plain view including, but not limited to the following: purses, GPS units, radar detectors, laptop computers, loose change, etc. Residents are reminded to secure their vehicle(s) at all times and remove items from plain view located inside the vehicle(s). If anyone should observe any suspicious subjects in the neighborhood please contact the LaGrange Police Department at the emergency number of 911 or the non-emergency number of (708)579-2333. Any non-emergency questions can be directed to Inv. Robert Wardlaw or Inv. Dave Rohlicek of the LaGrange Police Department.

OTHER POLICE NEWS

Other than a string of seemingly related burglaries or attempted burglaries to vehicles about town these past few days, some errant vandalism and a myriad of accidents with injuries over the past few weeks, about the most interesting incidents of late concern a hangout some local teens apparently consider a home away from home -- and last but not least, a case of some folks getting their figurative lederhosen in a bunch.

Our latest item involves a special watch La Grange police have put out for an abandoned house at 7 S. Sawyer Ave., an East Side residence where it was reported shortly after 10 p.m. Oct. 20 that a group of teens were going in and out of, drinking and, er, fornicating, according to reports.

Burglaries took place in the 500 block of South Waiola Avenue on the morning of Oct. 19, and on the night of Oct. 16, in the 1000 block of South 7th Avenue and the 100 blocks of North Ashland and Madison avenues. Items were taken in all but one of the incidents. Attempted burglaries occurred in the 400 block of South 7th Avenue in La Grange and the 600 block of North Park Avenue in La Grange Park on the night of Oct. 19, the 300 block of South Waiola Avenue on the night of Oct. 18 and the 100 block of Madison Avenue on the night of Oct. 15. Most of the break-ins were reported the following morning. In the Waiola Avenue incident on Oct. 19, two unlocked vehicles were entered and had items taken from inside between 2 and 2:30 a.m.

An 11-year-old La Grange boy was treated at Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital after he was allegedly struck by a vehicle after running between cars in traffic on the evening of Oct. 10. A 1993 Pontiac Grand Am being driven by Esmeraldo Hurtado Lopez, 44, of Chicago, was northbound on La Grange Road just north of the crosswalk at Calendar Avenue just before 6 p.m. when the boy, Graeme D. Day of 15 S. 6th Ave., Apt. 1, allegedly struck the front of the vehicle. Witnesses told police they saw the boy cross to the east after running in between southbound vehicles in traffic when he came in contact with the Grand Am in far right-hand lane. The boy allegedly told police he did not see the northbound traffic moving at the time. DeLopez received a moving violation ticket as a result and is scheduled to appear in traffic court at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 13.

A 41-year-old Hillside man was treated at Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital after his car was rear-ended by a truck after he braked for crossing pedestrians at LaGrange Road and Ogden Avenue on the morning of Oct. 4. Police reports indicate Paul Fitzpatrick was traveling westbound on Ogden approaching La Grange Road and was struck from behind as he slowed down at the yellow traffic light shortly before 10:15 a.m. The truck driver, Dariusz Lisowski, 29, of Palos Hills, told police he was traveling in the same direction and thought Fitzpatrick's car was going to turn northbound onto La Grange Road. Damage was sustained to the car, but not the truck -- whose driver received a moving violation ticket with traffic court at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 13.

Several cases of vandalism also were reported in recent days in La Grange. The most recent was a lock stolen from a back yard gate of a residence in the 300 block of South La Grange Road on the night of Oct. 19. On the night of Oct. 18, a car was keyed as it was parked outside a house in the 200 block of East Elm Avenue and sometime over the previous day, someone wrote with yellow pen on a car parked in a driveway in the block just south of the La Grange Public Library (However, that resident told police the damage could have occurred the night before outside of Brixie's Saloon at Ogden and Blanchan avenues in Brookfield). Also, someone wrote in black pant on the south side of a sign at Back to Bed, 115 N. La Grange Road, the initials "SANR" on the night of Oct. 17.

Three boys were seen but never caught in Elm Park at Brainard and Elm avenues when a woman's car was hit with an egg as she drove past the park shortly after 8:15 p.m. Oct. 18.

And Halloween isn't even here yet.

On the morning of Oct. 18, employees came to Village Hall to find flowers pulled out of their pots on the building's front steps. The flowers were replaced by Public Works crews that day.

Two male blacks, roughly 5-foot-10 to 6-foot tall, wearing all black clothing with black hoodies over their heads were seen running near Sawyer and Calendar avenues following a possible burglary in progress in the 100 block of Washington Avenue shortly before midnight Oct. 17.

Pieces of scrap copper valued at about $700 were reported stolen between 3:30 and 4 p.m. Oct. 15 from a work site in the first block of South Waiola Avenue after some boarding was torn off a building. The theft was reported the following afternoon.

No arrests were made after a woman in the 300 block of Bluff Avenue told police she received telephone and text message death threats from her boyfriend between 5:30 and 6 p.m. Oct. 19. However, while the messages may have been received in Oak Park, the victim was referred to counseling with the Constance Morris House for abused women in La Grange.

A 6-year-old child was treated at Adventist Hinsdale Hospital after several 911 callers told police she was discovered unresponsive by the swingset at Waiola Park shortly before 1 p.m. Oct. 18.

A 66-year-old woman was treated at Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital after police said she fell outside of the Blueberry Hill Restaurant at Harris Avenue and La Grange Road about 1:45 p.m. Oct. 18.

Firefighters responded to a smoking stove in a home at 201 N. Stone Ave., shortly before 7 p.m. Oct. 16.

Firefighters were busier than normal on Oct. 17, when they responded to a gas leak in the street at 46 S. Waiola Ave. just prior to 10:25 a.m. Nicor gas comany workers were dispatched to the scene to cap the leak. Also that day, firefighters extinguished a car fire in the 100 block of North Ashland Avenue at about 10 p.m. There were no injuries and the call was handled in less than 15 minutes. And in the 1000 block of Meadowcrest in La Grange Park, firefighters from La Grange assisted in responding to a smell of gas at a home at about 11:45 p.m.

And to end this on an upbeat note:
Police made sure loud noise complaints they received from neighbors of St. Cletus Church well after 10 p.m. on the night of Oct. 18 were addressed. Seems the Oompah music from the parish's annual Oktoberfest was a bit too loud.