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North Riverside police are investigating a Feb. 15 break-in at a local video gambling parlor where offenders attempted to take cash from the machine that redeems winnings.
Police responded to Spins Café, 9261 Cermak Road, at about 4:35 a.m. after being notified of an active burglar alarm there. Upon arrival, a police officer reported observing the glass front door had been shattered.
Inside the gambling café, police said the plastic cover had been removed from the payout device, which was damaged by someone who appeared to have used a power saw to gain entry to the cash box.
However, police said, the offender failed to open the cash box and no cash was missing. Police have requested security camera video from the owner to assist in their investigation.
An 18-year-old Brookfield man went to police on Feb. 15 to report that someone with whom he’d exchanged nude photos via Instagram was threatening to share the images with his friends unless he paid money.
The victim told police someone he initially believed to be a woman sent a friend request on Instagram. He accepted the request and began corresponding with the person, exchanging nude photos.
The offender then demanded $500, saying he’d share the nude photos to the victim’s friend list. The victim sent the offender $48 through Venmo, after which the offender called the victim via Instagram. Afterward, a man with what was described in the police report as a “Jamaican accent” reportedly demanded more money.
At that time the victim called police, who advised him to block the offender on Instagram and monitor his bank account closely, report any fraudulent activity and report any further contacts to police.
A resident of the 2500 block of Desplaines Avenue, North Riverside, called police on Feb. 16 to report that her apartment had been burglarized sometime between 8 a.m. and 1:10 p.m. that day.
According to the police report, the door to the entrance of the apartment building appeared to have been pried open, and there were pry marks on the door and door frame of the victim’s unit.
Two dresser drawers in a bedroom were opened and had been rifled through, but nothing appeared to be missing. Jewelry, iPads and cash were left undisturbed.
Security camera video reportedly showed a woman dressed all in black, wearing white gloves and carrying a black bag walking toward the rear of the building at about 3:20 p.m. A second video from 3:27 p.m. showed the same woman walking to the rear of the building.
A Brookfield woman called police on Feb. 13 to report that someone had stolen a package from the front porch of her home in the 4100 block of Raymond Avenue sometime between 8:20 and 10 a.m.
The victim had received notification that the package containing fruit cups and vitamins had been delivered, but when she went to retrieve it, it was gone.
A 14-year-old girl struck by a car while crossing Plainfield Road at Forest Avenue in Brookfield on the evening of Feb. 13 was not seriously injured, police reported.
The girl was crossing in a crosswalk at about 7 p.m. when she was struck in the left hip by a silver sedan which reportedly went around her and sped off westbound without the driver checking to see if the girl was hurt.
The victim complained of a sore hip but did not appear to be seriously hurt, according to police. Paramedics took her LaGrange Hospital for evaluation.
North Riverside police reported identifying a 12-year-old boy who allegedly threw a chunk of concrete through the window of a car parked in the lower-level parking deck at the North Riverside Park Mall, 7501 Cermak Road, on Feb. 19, but ended up not charging him with a crime.
Police responded to the scene around 7:10 p.m. after someone called to report someone in a group of five people throw an object at the front passenger window of a silver Jeep, causing it to shatter.
Security cameras reportedly showed police which of the offenders threw the object, and mall security informed police that the group on camera had entered Round One on the other side of the mall.
Police made contact with the alleged offender, but no charges were filed, according to the police report, because of the boy’s age and because the owner of the Jeep left the mall without contacting police.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, Feb. 13-19, 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.