9 minute read
Police Blotter
NORTHLAKE
SEPT. 2 - BURGLARY – A car parked in the 2700 block of Rhodes Avenue had an insurance card stolen from it. SEPT. 2 - RETAIL THEFT – Cynthia Guerrero of Franklin Park was issued a local ordinance citation for retail theft after attempting to steal two pair of pants and a shirt from the Sam’s Club on North Avenue. SEPT. 3 - THEFT – The 7-Eleven on North Avenue reported having $640 worth of lottery tickets stolen. SEPT. 4 - RETAIL THEFT – After attempting to leave the Home Depot without paying for a $278 DeWalt Impact Driver, Joey Castro of Melrose Park was issued a local ordinance citation for retail theft. SEPT. 4 - RETAIL THEFT – Police issued a local ordinance citation to David Robles of Melrose Park for retail theft after he attempted to leave the Home Depot with items he did not pay for. SEPT. 5 - CRIMINAL DAMAGE – A Toyota truck parked at a motel in the 2600 block of Mannheim Road was reportedly keyed by an unknown offender. SEPT. 13 - RETAIL THEFT – Kiwanis Vilella, Jr. of Chicago was charged with retail theft after allegedly stealing BB guns.
FRANKLIN PARK
SEPT. 5 - GRAFFITI – Graffiti was found on a stop sign of a business in the 2700 block of Mannheim Road. SEPT. 9 - CRIMINAL DAMAGE – Damage to a garage side door of a home was reported in the 9700 block of Johanna Avenue.
ELMWOOD PARK
SEPT. 3 - HOME INVASION – Two men entered the home of a woman living in the 1600 block of 73rd Court. One entered through a door left momentarily open and asked the resident if she had trouble with flooding. A second man was found rifling through drawers in her dining room. While the woman called police, the men left. Cash was missing from a drawer. SEPT. 5 - SHOTS HEARD – A resident in the 7700 block of Belmont Avenue reported hearing five shots fired in the area. SEPT. 13 - CARJACKING – Police are investigating a carjacking of a woman in the 1700 block of North 79th Avenue. At approximately 11:30 pm, two armed men approached a woman who was sitting in her Volvo which was parked in her driveway. The men ordered her out of the vehicle and drove away. The woman was unharmed. The car was later located in the 1600 block of North Avers Avenue in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood. No arrests have been made.
RIVER GROVE
SEPT. 2 - THEFT – The owner of a 2018 Honda motorcycle reported it stolen from in front of his home in the 2200 block of Elm Street. It was later found stripped of its parked in the rear of a business in the 3200 block of Oak Park Avenue in Chicago. SEPT. 2 - THEFT – A 2018 Yamaha parked in the 2400 block of West Street was reported stolen. SEPT. 8 - THEFT – A catalytic converter was stolen from a 2007 Honda parked in the 8700 block of Herrick Avenue SEPT. 13 - THEFT – A catalytic converter was stolen from a car parked in the 2500 block of Erie.
ROSEMONT - –
SEPT. 3 - CRIMINAL DAMAGE – After allegedly damaging a vehicle’s side view mirror near the Five Roses Pub in Rosemont, police arrested Alfredo Rivera of Elmwood Park and charged him with criminal damage to property and resisting or obstructing a peace officer. Rivera allegedly ran from an officer while he was pursued in a parking lot in the 5500 block of River Road. He has a court date of Oct. 12.
SCHILLER PARK
AUGUST 22 - MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT – A 2017 Subaru Legacy was reported stolen from the 9800 block of Linn Avenue. SEPT. 4 - SHOTS FIRED – A resident reported hearing gunfire in the 4400 block of River Road. The resident observed a speeding vehicle leave the scene in front of his apartment building. Responding officers found four .45 caliber shell casings around the area. No damage to vehicles or homes was found. No one was injured and officers were unable to locate any victims or witnesses. SEPT. 5 - CRIMINAL TRESPASS – Timothy Gee of Chicago was arrested in the 9800 block of Lawrence Avenue after he refused to leave the property after employees found him to be highly intoxicated, unruly and displaying a destructive behavior. Gee was warned by officers more than five times to leave the property. When he refused, he was arrested and charged with criminal trespass to property and resisting arrest. Gee has a court date of October 21. SEPT. 7 - THEFT – A catalytic converter was stolen from a 2002 Ford Van parked in front of a residence in the 4300 block of Emerson Avenue. SEPT. 7 - CRIMINAL DAMAGE TO PROPERTY – The owner of a 2018 Toyota reported having all four of his tires punctured while it was parked in the 9200 block of Susy Lane. SEPT. 11 - IDENTITY THEFT – A resident reported to police that a debit card was fraudulently applied for in his name. SEPT. 13 - THEFT – The owner of a 2009 Toyota parked in the 4000 block of Wagner Avenue reported having its catalytic converter stolen.
PARK RIDGE
MAIL THEFT – Reports of multiple checks being stolen from a mailbox outside the Park Ridge Post Office is being investigated by the Park Ridge Police Department and U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Police have received eight complaints during the month of August involving suspected thefts from a drive-thru box outside the post office located at 333 Busse Highway. Mail has been reported stolen and checks altered with recipient’s names changed and/or amounts changed. Anyone who believes their mail was stolen should contact their local police department and also file a report with the Postal Inspection Service by calling 877-876-2455. The Postal Inspection Service is a federal law enforcement agency that investigates anything that touches the mail, the post office or its employees and that includes mail theft, mail fraud, and financial crimes.
Fatal Traffic Accident Involving Three Vehicles in Schiller Park Sept. 16
On Monday, September 6, 2021, at 12:11am, the Schiller Park Police Department received a report of a traffic crash involving three vehicles in the 4300 block of River Road.
The crash was severe, resulting in one fatality and three others being transported to local hospitals for medical treatment. The preliminary investigation revealed that a 2015 Chevy Suburban was traveling northbound on River Road at the 4300 block when it crossed into the southbound lanes, striking two other vehicles head on. A passenger in one of the other vehicles, an 80 year old female from Chicago, sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the Suburban, a 40 year old male from Chicago, faces multiple pending charges. The crash remains under investigation by the Schiller Park Police Department and the Major Case Assistance Team (MCAT).
Sheriff’s Police Detective Who Solved Cold-Case Murders of Twin Infants Named 2021 International Officer of the Year
COOK COUNTY, IL – Cook County Sheriff’s Police Detective Ginny Georgantas, whose tireless devotion to solving the 17-year-old murders of twin infant boys led her to learn the complex field of forensic genealogy, has been named the 2021 Officer of the Year by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart announced today.
“This case was cold for nearly two decades, but it was not forgotten,” Sheriff Dart said. “Detective Georgantas’ incredible dedication to solving this case is evidence that we never give up in our search for justice. I’m proud to have such committed detectives working to help keep our residents safe and prove that all cases are worthy of closure.”
Georgantas joined the Sheriff’s Office in 2011 as a Corrections Officer and transferred to the Sheriff’s Police in 2013. After being promoted to Detective in 2015, Georgantas learned of the unsolved murders of the boys, whose bodies were found in a trash bin in unincorporated Stickney Township back in 2003.
At the time of the original investigation, an autopsy determined the victims were born alive and died of asphyxiation, and the deaths were ruled homicides. Sheriff’s Police conducted a thorough investigation at the time, but the case remained unsolved.
After years without any new developments in the case, it soon became clear to Georgantas that she would need to look to new technology if there were to be any hope of finding new leads. She devoted more than one thousand hours to learning the difficult and complicated processes of forensic genealogy, which -- in addition to months of traditional investigative work – enabled her and her colleagues to link DNA recovered at the original scene a possible blood relative of the victims
This fresh lead led her and her supervisor to a stakeout outside a convenience store in Holland, Michigan, where they were able to recover a tossed cigarette butt from the woman they believed was related to the infants.
Ultimately, the DNA profile of the woman Georgantas identified through her research matched that of the unknown birth mother of the victims, Antionette Briley, who subsequently confessed to giving birth to the boys in her bathtub and then discarding them alive in the trash can.
In December 2020, Briley was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and is currently being held in Cook County Jail awaiting trial on $150,000 D-bond.
“It is an incredible honor to win this award, and I just want everyone to know that I could not have done it alone,” Georgantas said. “Everyone – from my supervisors and fellow detectives to the genealogist that taught me this work, to the other law enforcement partners that went out of their way to help – worked tirelessly to bring some measure of justice for these innocent children.”
The International Association of Chiefs of Police Officer of the Year award recognizes exceptional achievements in policing on a global stage, rewarding those who show an unparalleled commitment to public service and community safety. This marks the second time a Cook County Sheriff’s Police Officer has won this award. The first was Officer Larry Ostrowski in 1975.
COOK COUNTY – A Des Plaines man has been charged with possession of child pornography after investigators found sexually explicit images of children under the age of 13 on his cellphone, Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart announced today.
SVU investigators traced information from a tip received by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and linked Cholino Sanchez-Gonzalez, 24, of the 500 block of Kenilworth Court, to downloading and viewing images of child pornography through an app on his mobile phone.
On Tuesday, Sep. 21, SVU investigators conducted a traffic stop where SanchezGonzalez was taken into custody for further investigation.
After being issued his Miranda Rights, Sanchez-Gonzalez admitted to investigators that he used his cellphone to view and download and save images of underage children from a website. He then showed investigators where he saved the images on his cellphone.
A subsequent forensic examination of his phone revealed an additional number of pornographic images of children as young as 8-years-old.
Sanchez-Gonzalez is scheduled to appear in the Cook County Second Municipal District Courthouse in Skokie today for a bond hearing on one count of possession of child pornography, a Class 2 felony.
The public is reminded that the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty by the government in a court of law.
