A Brookfield man with an extensive criminal record who was arrested by La Grange police this past summer after pointing a loaded gun at a woman and two men outside a bar one block west of the village limits will be spending the next seven years behind bars.
Stanley Wisniowicz, 47, who was on parole from serving a 2-year sentence in state prison when he was charged with numerous felonies in connection with the Aug. 4 altercation outside of Brixie's in neighboring Brookfield, was sentenced in mid-November, according to the Cook County State's Attorneys Office.
The incident began at about 2:20 a.m. that day when Wisniowicz said something to the 27-year-old Hanover Park woman as she boarded a motorcycle driven by one of the men. After a verbal altercation over what one Brookfield police officer called "nothing" much, the offender pulled out at Smith & Wesson .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun and aimed it at the three.
Shortly thereafter, he ran a block and a half west to the Citgo/7-Eleven at East and Ogden avenues, after dumping the gun in some bushes by the nearby abandoned Moose Lodge.
After Wisniowicz was arrested by La Grange police and turned over to Brookfield detectives, a police dog from Wood Dale discovered the weapon, which had six bullets in the clip and one in the chamber. The gun had been stolen from a Brookfield home just two weeks earlier.
Wisniowicz, originally charged with three counts of aggravated assault, possession of stolen firearms, unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon, possession without a Firearm Owners Identification card and possession of ammunition without a FOID card, was sentenced after entering a guilty plea on just two felony charges: being an armed habitual criminal and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Held on a half-million-dollar bond since his arrest, Wisniowicz was just released from prison six months earlier. He was convicted in 2001 on three counts of residential burglary and was sentenced to 10 years in prison and was convicted on similar charges in 1987 and 1997. His first convicted at the age of 23 for an attempted burglary in 1986.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
MAJOR CRIME TAKES A HOLIDAY
With the exception of a few vehicle burglaries and thefts, not much major crime was reported these past few weeks around town. Here are a sampling of police reports culled from the blotter this past week.
Crime of the month?
A $280 piece of police forensics equipment was reported stolen from the Park District of La Grange recreation center, 536 East Ave., at 4:14 p.m. Nov. 6 -- despite the fact the facility was filled with numerous Cook County Sheriff's Police officers attending a forensics training academy in conjunction with Louisiana State University that week.
Break-ins, thefts
Those burglaries included a reported theft from a vehicle in the 1100 block of Arlington Street in the overnight hours of Nov. 16-17; a reported theft of $51.74 worth of gasoline from Shell, 4701 S. Gilbert Ave., at 1:40 p.m. Nov. 16 by a blonde-haired white woman in her 40s wearing glasses and driving a beige minivan who drove off after having her credit card denied; the theft of a copper gutter from the west side of St. Francis Xavier Church, 124 N. Spring Ave., reported shortly before noon Nov. 12; the theft of a green Raleigh mountain bike with gold lettering on the frame from the 100 block of North Catherine Avenue in the overnight hours of Nov. 10; a theft of random items from a home in the 300 block of West Calendar Avenue reported at 5 p.m. Nov. 7; the theft of a cell phone charger valued at $9.50 from a green Ford Explorer in the 100 block of South Waiola Avenue in the overnight hours of Nov. 5 and the theft of a bicycle from a garage in the 300 block of South Waiola Avenue, reported shortly before 3 p.m. Nov. 2.
In addition, an attempted burglary was reported in Denning Park in the 4900 block of Willow Springs Road at 8:44 a.m. Nov. 15, when an employee discovered that someone gained entry to a Park District of La Grange building. A group of kids were reported in the park after hours, it was reported to police at 10:10 p.m. Nov. 14. The kids, however, could not be located by responding officers.
A car stolen previously reported stolen from La Grange was reported recovered by Summit police shortly after 5 p.m. Nov. 16.
Gang warfare?
Perhaps the most serious would-be crime came from a tipster regarding suspicious activity near Cossitt and Stone avenues in the daylight hours of Nov. 17. Seems a group of six male Hispanics were seen walking toward the park on Stone from Cossitt a little after 3 p.m. -- one wearing a black jacket with the word "echo" on it who was carrying a brick in his hand and another with a light grey hoodie and carrying a lead pipe -- looking as though they might fight. They were never located by police.
Police also investigated the report of a Northlake man who said he was threatened by a man wielding a crowbar following a traffic altercation in Brookfield shortly before 12:30 p.m. Nov. 13. The victim, a passenger in a car being driven by a 16-year-old girl, said the altercation began when the driver of a blue Volkswagen believed the driver of the victim cut him off and pulled out the crowbar at him. The alleged offender, identified through his license plate as a 23-year-old La Grange Highlands resident, then took off down eastbound Burlington Avenue to 6th Avenue and was last seen driving east on Harris Avenue. The alleged offender was not home, but out driving his car when police tracked down his address.
DUI warrant
Robert Helgar, 29, of Berwyn, received two citations for having an outstanding warrant for a drunk driving charge out of DeKalb County after police made a traffic stop on him at 50th Street and La Grange Road shortly after 5:30 p.m. Nov. 17.
Illegal crossing
Police cited 17-year-old Christopher Beck with an ordinance ticket after he was caught illegally crossing the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad tracks where there is no grade crossing just west of East Avenue at Maple Avenue at 11:50 p.m. Nov. 12. The spot where he crossed is near the Park District of La Grange recreation center.
Missing children
The 12-year-old daughter of a police officer reported missing shortly after 9 a.m. Nov. 17 after being last seen northbound on Bluff Avenue near 47th Street. Police found her soon afterward several blocks north at Tilden and Franklin avenues.
A warm place
A 65-year-old homeless woman was escorted out of a gas station restroom she had refused to leave in the 100 block of North La Grange Road at 5:55 p.m. Nov. 16.
Smells like fire
It used to be the case not too long ago that the smell of burning leaves at the curbside or side of the road in some local communities did little more than signal the arrival of autumn in some local communities, but nowadays the familiar odor causes some folks to call 911. Such was the case of not one, but two calls alerting authorities to dispatch the La Grange Fire Department to the corner of Ogden and Madison avenues in the early morning in the ours of Nov. 18. The first call came in at 12:48 a.m. and prompted firefighters to extinguish the fire, possibly caused by a car parked on top of them. Then, at 5:20 a.m., the leaves were found to be on fire again and were put out again, this time after a car with a hot engine was parked on top of them.
Firefighters found themselves on a unique call at 7:50 a.m. Nov. 16 when a Lyons Township High School senior, 17-year-old Morris Beck, needed assistance with a ring stuck on his finger. They were called back to the school at 11:37 a.m. that day to transport 16-year-old Matt Finnegan to Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital when he suffered a bloody nose after falling down a set of stairs.
Shortly after 10 a.m. Nov. 13, paramedics rushed a 15-month-old girl, Sofia Vega, to the hospital after she was reported choking in a home in the 900 block of South 7th Avenue. And on Nov. 11, a Brookfield boy told police he was beat up by another boy that day at the LT North campus, 100 W. Cossitt Ave.
An employee of CEP Inc., 4903 S. Gilbert Ave., reported suffering a headache and reported a possible gas leak at 9:20 a.m. Nov. 11. The odor was later discovered to be an area sewer problem.
And at 2:50 p.m. Nov. 1, a 2-year-old boy was rushed to Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital after he took two 25-milligram tablets of Matoprolol in a home in the 100 block of Malden Avenue.
Crime of the month?
A $280 piece of police forensics equipment was reported stolen from the Park District of La Grange recreation center, 536 East Ave., at 4:14 p.m. Nov. 6 -- despite the fact the facility was filled with numerous Cook County Sheriff's Police officers attending a forensics training academy in conjunction with Louisiana State University that week.
Break-ins, thefts
Those burglaries included a reported theft from a vehicle in the 1100 block of Arlington Street in the overnight hours of Nov. 16-17; a reported theft of $51.74 worth of gasoline from Shell, 4701 S. Gilbert Ave., at 1:40 p.m. Nov. 16 by a blonde-haired white woman in her 40s wearing glasses and driving a beige minivan who drove off after having her credit card denied; the theft of a copper gutter from the west side of St. Francis Xavier Church, 124 N. Spring Ave., reported shortly before noon Nov. 12; the theft of a green Raleigh mountain bike with gold lettering on the frame from the 100 block of North Catherine Avenue in the overnight hours of Nov. 10; a theft of random items from a home in the 300 block of West Calendar Avenue reported at 5 p.m. Nov. 7; the theft of a cell phone charger valued at $9.50 from a green Ford Explorer in the 100 block of South Waiola Avenue in the overnight hours of Nov. 5 and the theft of a bicycle from a garage in the 300 block of South Waiola Avenue, reported shortly before 3 p.m. Nov. 2.
In addition, an attempted burglary was reported in Denning Park in the 4900 block of Willow Springs Road at 8:44 a.m. Nov. 15, when an employee discovered that someone gained entry to a Park District of La Grange building. A group of kids were reported in the park after hours, it was reported to police at 10:10 p.m. Nov. 14. The kids, however, could not be located by responding officers.
A car stolen previously reported stolen from La Grange was reported recovered by Summit police shortly after 5 p.m. Nov. 16.
Gang warfare?
Perhaps the most serious would-be crime came from a tipster regarding suspicious activity near Cossitt and Stone avenues in the daylight hours of Nov. 17. Seems a group of six male Hispanics were seen walking toward the park on Stone from Cossitt a little after 3 p.m. -- one wearing a black jacket with the word "echo" on it who was carrying a brick in his hand and another with a light grey hoodie and carrying a lead pipe -- looking as though they might fight. They were never located by police.
Police also investigated the report of a Northlake man who said he was threatened by a man wielding a crowbar following a traffic altercation in Brookfield shortly before 12:30 p.m. Nov. 13. The victim, a passenger in a car being driven by a 16-year-old girl, said the altercation began when the driver of a blue Volkswagen believed the driver of the victim cut him off and pulled out the crowbar at him. The alleged offender, identified through his license plate as a 23-year-old La Grange Highlands resident, then took off down eastbound Burlington Avenue to 6th Avenue and was last seen driving east on Harris Avenue. The alleged offender was not home, but out driving his car when police tracked down his address.
DUI warrant
Robert Helgar, 29, of Berwyn, received two citations for having an outstanding warrant for a drunk driving charge out of DeKalb County after police made a traffic stop on him at 50th Street and La Grange Road shortly after 5:30 p.m. Nov. 17.
Illegal crossing
Police cited 17-year-old Christopher Beck with an ordinance ticket after he was caught illegally crossing the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad tracks where there is no grade crossing just west of East Avenue at Maple Avenue at 11:50 p.m. Nov. 12. The spot where he crossed is near the Park District of La Grange recreation center.
Missing children
The 12-year-old daughter of a police officer reported missing shortly after 9 a.m. Nov. 17 after being last seen northbound on Bluff Avenue near 47th Street. Police found her soon afterward several blocks north at Tilden and Franklin avenues.
Ten days earlier, a 14-year-old bipolar Brookfield boy was reported as a missing habitual runaway after his mother lost sight of him down the block from the Police Department. He was not found at a Brookfield party he was believed to have attended or in Memorial Park in La Grange Park where he may have been visiting.
A white man with a bandage on his head was reported to have walked out of Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital, 5101 S. Willow Springs Road, shortly before 8 a.m. Nov. 5. The 911 caller said the patient appeared confused and was last seen headed northbound on Willow Springs Road, but police could not locate the man.A warm place
A 65-year-old homeless woman was escorted out of a gas station restroom she had refused to leave in the 100 block of North La Grange Road at 5:55 p.m. Nov. 16.
Smells like fire
It used to be the case not too long ago that the smell of burning leaves at the curbside or side of the road in some local communities did little more than signal the arrival of autumn in some local communities, but nowadays the familiar odor causes some folks to call 911. Such was the case of not one, but two calls alerting authorities to dispatch the La Grange Fire Department to the corner of Ogden and Madison avenues in the early morning in the ours of Nov. 18. The first call came in at 12:48 a.m. and prompted firefighters to extinguish the fire, possibly caused by a car parked on top of them. Then, at 5:20 a.m., the leaves were found to be on fire again and were put out again, this time after a car with a hot engine was parked on top of them.
Firefighters found themselves on a unique call at 7:50 a.m. Nov. 16 when a Lyons Township High School senior, 17-year-old Morris Beck, needed assistance with a ring stuck on his finger. They were called back to the school at 11:37 a.m. that day to transport 16-year-old Matt Finnegan to Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital when he suffered a bloody nose after falling down a set of stairs.
Shortly after 10 a.m. Nov. 13, paramedics rushed a 15-month-old girl, Sofia Vega, to the hospital after she was reported choking in a home in the 900 block of South 7th Avenue. And on Nov. 11, a Brookfield boy told police he was beat up by another boy that day at the LT North campus, 100 W. Cossitt Ave.
An employee of CEP Inc., 4903 S. Gilbert Ave., reported suffering a headache and reported a possible gas leak at 9:20 a.m. Nov. 11. The odor was later discovered to be an area sewer problem.
And at 2:50 p.m. Nov. 1, a 2-year-old boy was rushed to Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital after he took two 25-milligram tablets of Matoprolol in a home in the 100 block of Malden Avenue.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Gang "Floods" Area to Burglarize Homes
The following is an update, issued by Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel, on the recent rash of burglaries in the area.
This week, a street gang, the Sin City Boys, who mainly operate on the West side of Chicago , but has affiliations in Berwyn/Cicero, had actively sent out their juvenile members to commit residential burglaries and home invasions during the daytime hours in the West Suburban area. On Monday and Tuesday, the gang leadership sent out as many as 30 juveniles to commit crimes in Riverside , Brookfield , Forest Park , River Forest , Western Springs, and Downers Grove .
The WEDGE (gang & drug) unit received intelligence on this activity and teamed up with MCAT to begin surveillance and get saturated patrols out early Monday morning in the above mentioned communities. Monday morning and early afternoon, our Detective Sergeant, Dave Krull, heard a radio broadcast of a burglary in progress. Det. Krull responded in plain clothes and saw two of the three subjects hiding behind a garage in Lyons . Krull, along with fellow MCAT members, took up foot pursuit and after several minutes took all 3 juvenile gang members into custody in Lyons . These three suspects had parked a stolen motor vehicle (found containing other stolen property from burglaries) about a block from the burglary scene; a vehicle that had been reported stolen over the weekend in Lyons .
While processing those juveniles in Lyons , another call went out for LaGrange Park , North Riverside, and River Forest . Sgt. Krull was deployed as part of MCAT into the area. He and the other three MCAT members spotted the vehicle that had been reported by one of the victims as being involved in the burglary in Berwyn . On (Madison Avenue in Forest Park , they initiated a traffic stop with assistance from Forest Park . In that vehicle, three adult male Sin City Boys gang members were arrested and 7 handguns were discovered along with proceeds from burglaries. Those suspects were taken into custody and brought to Berwyn (where the call originated). During investigation, Berwyn detectives were able to receive consent to search and obtained a search warrant for 2 residences in Berwyn (where gang members were living or storing property). Officers executed the warrants and recovered 1.8 million dollars street value narcotics, mainly cocaine, and recovered 10 more weapons, among them a MAC10 pistol machine gun. In addition, two of the three Sin City Boys are believed to be involved in an unsolved homicide in Berwyn and those individuals are still being investigated as of today. We brought in the DEA and the FBI on this large scale case.
The Riverside burglary was on the 3600 block of Harlem and rare coins stolen. There are coins that are still unidentified in the property room at Berwyn PD. Riverside will likely be indicting the arrested gang members on that burglary, but currently we are awaiting results from some physical and DNA evidence (blood) as their MO was to break windows to get obtain entry into the residences.
I would like you to know that some outstanding work was done by Detective Sgt. Krull and by Sgt. Frank Pontrelli (who performed the evidence work in the case). Krull has worked non-stop, not only as the Riverside Detective, but also on the MCAT task force. Krull was directly involved in the arrest of all 6 suspects, and in Lyons , in the apprehension of suspects.
Due to this occurrence, I redirected patrol operations and fully staffed day shift to the extent possible. I put administrative personnel in uniform out on the street to saturate our village with marked patrol units and I believe it was a success. Detective Krull found that when speaking with the suspects in Lyons , they had come to Riverside first and happened to see a Riverside Police squad on routine patrol on Olmsted Road and they decided to go elsewhere, which was when they headed for Lyons . They also said that they knew many of the Riverside homes had alarms and they did not want to deal with those.
In closing, this is the first time in my 25 year career that I have ever heard of gang members admitting flooding a specific area with a number of their members to commit burglaries, in attempt to simply overload departments and confuse police agencies by their activity generating so many calls and reports coming in to department simultaneously.
I think this speaks volumes about the task forces we are involved in; MCAT, NIPAS and WESTAF. The time, expense and manpower we put in on these teams is well worth it, when you consider the assistance and information that we get from other agencies in return when this type of crime occurs.
If you have any questions, please call me.
Thomas Weitzel
Chief of Police
Riverside Police Department
31 Riverside Road
Riverside , IL 60546
708-447-2127
tweitzel@riverside.il.us
This week, a street gang, the Sin City Boys, who mainly operate on the West side of Chicago , but has affiliations in Berwyn/Cicero, had actively sent out their juvenile members to commit residential burglaries and home invasions during the daytime hours in the West Suburban area. On Monday and Tuesday, the gang leadership sent out as many as 30 juveniles to commit crimes in Riverside , Brookfield , Forest Park , River Forest , Western Springs, and Downers Grove .
The WEDGE (gang & drug) unit received intelligence on this activity and teamed up with MCAT to begin surveillance and get saturated patrols out early Monday morning in the above mentioned communities. Monday morning and early afternoon, our Detective Sergeant, Dave Krull, heard a radio broadcast of a burglary in progress. Det. Krull responded in plain clothes and saw two of the three subjects hiding behind a garage in Lyons . Krull, along with fellow MCAT members, took up foot pursuit and after several minutes took all 3 juvenile gang members into custody in Lyons . These three suspects had parked a stolen motor vehicle (found containing other stolen property from burglaries) about a block from the burglary scene; a vehicle that had been reported stolen over the weekend in Lyons .
While processing those juveniles in Lyons , another call went out for LaGrange Park , North Riverside, and River Forest . Sgt. Krull was deployed as part of MCAT into the area. He and the other three MCAT members spotted the vehicle that had been reported by one of the victims as being involved in the burglary in Berwyn . On (Madison Avenue in Forest Park , they initiated a traffic stop with assistance from Forest Park . In that vehicle, three adult male Sin City Boys gang members were arrested and 7 handguns were discovered along with proceeds from burglaries. Those suspects were taken into custody and brought to Berwyn (where the call originated). During investigation, Berwyn detectives were able to receive consent to search and obtained a search warrant for 2 residences in Berwyn (where gang members were living or storing property). Officers executed the warrants and recovered 1.8 million dollars street value narcotics, mainly cocaine, and recovered 10 more weapons, among them a MAC10 pistol machine gun. In addition, two of the three Sin City Boys are believed to be involved in an unsolved homicide in Berwyn and those individuals are still being investigated as of today. We brought in the DEA and the FBI on this large scale case.
The Riverside burglary was on the 3600 block of Harlem and rare coins stolen. There are coins that are still unidentified in the property room at Berwyn PD. Riverside will likely be indicting the arrested gang members on that burglary, but currently we are awaiting results from some physical and DNA evidence (blood) as their MO was to break windows to get obtain entry into the residences.
I would like you to know that some outstanding work was done by Detective Sgt. Krull and by Sgt. Frank Pontrelli (who performed the evidence work in the case). Krull has worked non-stop, not only as the Riverside Detective, but also on the MCAT task force. Krull was directly involved in the arrest of all 6 suspects, and in Lyons , in the apprehension of suspects.
Due to this occurrence, I redirected patrol operations and fully staffed day shift to the extent possible. I put administrative personnel in uniform out on the street to saturate our village with marked patrol units and I believe it was a success. Detective Krull found that when speaking with the suspects in Lyons , they had come to Riverside first and happened to see a Riverside Police squad on routine patrol on Olmsted Road and they decided to go elsewhere, which was when they headed for Lyons . They also said that they knew many of the Riverside homes had alarms and they did not want to deal with those.
In closing, this is the first time in my 25 year career that I have ever heard of gang members admitting flooding a specific area with a number of their members to commit burglaries, in attempt to simply overload departments and confuse police agencies by their activity generating so many calls and reports coming in to department simultaneously.
I think this speaks volumes about the task forces we are involved in; MCAT, NIPAS and WESTAF. The time, expense and manpower we put in on these teams is well worth it, when you consider the assistance and information that we get from other agencies in return when this type of crime occurs.
If you have any questions, please call me.
Thomas Weitzel
Chief of Police
Riverside Police Department
31 Riverside Road
Riverside , IL 60546
708-447-2127
tweitzel@riverside.il.us
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