Park Forest, IL—(ENEWSPF)— Editor’s Note: We continue our reporting on news from police blotter reports. Besides covering the many stories from around Park Forest that otherwise might go unnoticed, we want to bring more complete coverage of police reports than is reported by other local media.
An arrest does not mean that a person is guilty. All those arrested are presumed innocent until proven guilty. It is the policy of eNews Park Forest to not remove items in the public record from publication. If your name is listed in the police reports, we will only add information relevant to the final disposition of the case at hand, e.g. “Mr. Smith was subsequently acquitted,” “Mr. Smith entered a guilty plea,” or “All charges against Mr. Smith were subsequently dropped.” We will do so upon receiving and verifying proof of such disposition.
Special thanks to Barbara Gallagher for assistance proofing and editing these reports.
Persons wishing to leave anonymous information on any criminal matters including narcotics or gang activity are encouraged to call the Park Forest Police Department Investigations Division at (708) 748-1309.
An officer was requested to assist the Steger Police Department with a K-9 tracking following a bank robbery that occurred at Old Plank Bank, 20 West 34th Street, on September 13. According to police, the suspect entered the bank and handed the teller a note demanding money. It was unknown whether the suspect was armed at that time. The tracking was discontinued after a while when K-9 Tobi became overheated and exhausted from the length of the track and the humid weather, according to police.
A vehicle that had been reported stolen from the 500 block of Illinois Street on October 9 was discovered in a field in Blue Island shortly after midnight on October 8. The Blue Island Police Department responded to a report of a vehicle on fire in the 2700 block of West John Street in Blue Island. The vehicle was towed to an impound lot and the owner notified.
Alvin L. Johnson, 55, 413 Sandburg St., Park Forest, was arrested on October 10 and charged with resisting arrest and assault when police were dispatched to the 400 block of Sandburg Street to investigate a report of a disturbance.
A Chicago resident told police on October 10 that at approximately 5:44 PM, he was traveling eastbound on Sauk Trail in the right lane and observed another vehicle driving very closely behind him, “on his bumper,” according to police. The man told police that he began to slow down traffic. The vehicle behind him turned into the left lane and drove parallel to him. Both drivers then rolled down their windows and a verbal argument ensued. The driver of the vehicle that had pulled alongside that of the resident from Chicago allegedly displayed an offensive hand gesture, sped up, and proceeded to change lanes to be in front of the Chicago resident. Both cars approached the red traffic signal at Western Avenue and both indicated that they were turning right, south onto Western Avenue. Both vehicles were in the right-hand lane when, according to the Chicago resident, the vehicle in front of him, “slammed on his brakes” after making the right hand turn. The Chicago resident applied his brakes to avoid the collision, but subsequently struck the rear of the vehicle in front of him. The vehicle in front of him then left the scene of the accident, according to police. The Chicago resident was unable to obtain a license plate number for the vehicle that he struck. Police say there were no witnesses and no injuries were reported. Police canvassed debris from the area of the crash but determined that all the debris was from the car of the resident from Chicago, according to police.
An 18-foot black 2013 Texoma trailer was reported stolen from a driveway in the 200 block of Blackhawk Drive on October 13.
Frederick Tooks, 40, 6 Cromwell Rd., Park Forest, was arrested on October 13 and charged with one felony count of fictitious/altering a registration sticker and one count of having illegal insurance cards when an officer patrolling in the area of Western Avenue and Algonquin Street observed that a vehicle driving northbound on Western Avenue from Algonquin Street had a pink registration sticker, according to police. When police observed the license plate, they observed that the registration sticker was composed of handwritten numerics and alpha characters. The insurance registration card did not have any company logos displayed, according to police. Tooks allegedly told police that he knew his registration had been expired for over six months. He related that he took the plate off in order to maneuver the sticker in order to color it in, according to police. He told police that he found a marker that looked close enough, and he just colored it in, according to police. He then took a black marker and colored in the numbers, according to police. He also allegedly told police that he had received his legitimate insurance contract and card via email close to a year ago. He was able to pull up the insurance card on his computer and adjust the insurance coverage date, according to police.
