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Crime & Safety

Man Suspected of Elmhurst Thefts Arrested in LaGrange Park

Suspect reportedly told police he stole cigarettes to support his drug habit.

A Chicago man, who allegedly twice stole cartons of cigarettes from the Jewel-Osco at 507 E. Woodlawn Ave. in LaGrange Park, and also allegedly stole cigarettes and liquor from the Jewel-Osco at 944 S. York Road in Elmhurst, was arrested April 14 by LaGrange Park police.

Rolando D. Shalor, 42, of 147 N. Menard Ave., was charged with two counts of misdemeanor retail theft in LaGrange Park and one count in Elmhurst. Police in four other communities also are investigating whether Shalor was involved in thefts there.

At 6:24 a.m. April 7, Elmhurst police were called to Jewel after an employee said two men took a bottle of liquor, then got into a silver Cadillac and headed southbound on York.

The next day, at 6:24 a.m. April 8, officers were called back to the same Jewel on a report of a suspicious vehicle, a silver Cadillac, in the parking lot. Two men and a women were seen in the vehicle. Police said at the time that the vehicle, activity patterns, and descriptions of the suspects matched those of the previous retail theft April 7.

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Elmhurst police attempted to stop the vehicle as it was exiting the south lot. The Cadillac stopped, and then the driver accelerated at a high rate of speed southbound onto York, then to eastbound Roosevelt, and then to Interstate 290. Police gave chase, and as the suspects fled, they discarded a box full of cigarette cartons, which broke apart on the roadway.

At about 6:15 a.m. April 14, a LaGrange Park police officer was patrolling the parking lot of the village’s Jewel-Osco and saw a silver Cadillac Seville with a black cloth top that matched the description of the vehicle involved in the cigarette thefts there, police said, adding the license plate also matched. The Cadillac pulled up to the north entrance of the parking lot, slowed down and then sped east on Oak, police said.

The officer followed the car and stopped it on the 1100 block of north La Grange Road with the help of another squad car that stopped in front of the Cadillac. Police said the procedure was needed because the suspect Cadillac had been in a high-speed chase in Elmhurst.

Three people were in the vehicle and the man in the back, Shalor, matched the description of the suspect in the cigarette thefts, police said. Shalor complained of chest pains and was transported to Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital, then was taken to the police station.

A woman who had been in the car told police Shalor is her boyfriend and the father of one of her boys. She reportedly said she had been going with him to several Jewel–Osco stores and knows he goes inside and steals several cartons of cigarettes.

Another man who was in the car told police he would drive Shalor to Jewel stores and was aware he would steal cigarettes. He said Shalor would sell the cigarettes and give him a portion of the proceeds.

Shalor reportedly told police he twice went to the Jewel-Osco store in La Grange Park and stole numerous cartons of cigarettes, which he sold to support his drug habit.

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Police in Clarendon Hills, North Riverside, Downers Grove and Westmont also were contacted to determine any connection with early-morning cigarette thefts reported at Jewel stores in those areas. As of April 19, further information was not available as to whether more charges would be filed.

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