Thieves Are Among Us, Even at Church; Lock Up Your Stuff, Elmhurst

Residential Burglary

An apartment on the 100 block of Virginia was broken into between 3 p.m. April 22 and 11:30 a.m. April 23. Taken was an Xbox game, Kinect sensor and a video game worth a total of $530. Estimated damage to the door is $50.

Retail Theft Arrest

Cory Martin, 25, 575 Thornhill Drive, Carol Stream, was arrested and charged with retail theft after he allegedly took a bottle of cologne worth $37 from Kmart, 265 S. Route 83, at 8 p.m. April 16. He was released on bond.

Derrick Orr, 25, 1008 N. Mason Ave., Chicago, was arrested and charged with retail theft and resisting a peace officer at Dominick's, 215 S. Route 83, at 2:52 p.m. April 18. He was arrested after a short foot chase and released on bond.

Michael Grushka, 20, 37 N. Craig, Lombard, was arrested and charged with retail theft, possession of alcohol by a minor, possession of cannabis and possession of drug paraphernalia after police were called to Dominick's, 215 S. Route 83, at 9:43 p.m. April 20. He was released on bond.

Theft

An air compressor worth $129 was taken from a vehicle parked on the 800 block of South Chatham between 10:30 p.m. April 10 and 6 a.m. April 11. The passenger window was smashed with a brick to gain entry, police said. Damage is estimated at $150.

An iPhone 4 worth $350 was taken from an unlocked gym locker in the second floor men's locker room at Elmhurst College, 190 Prospect Ave., between 1 and 3 p.m. April 12.

A handicap placard was taken from a vehicle parked on the 700 block of North York Road between 7:20 a.m. and 6:10 p.m. April 12. Tools and other items in the vehicle were not taken.

A CB radio worth $250 was taken from a semi truck parked at Trans Freightliner, 776 N. York Road, at 7:55 p.m. April 12. An unknown male was seen running from the truck.

Two Stihl BR 380 backpack leaf blowers, two Stihl weed trimmers and three Stihl hedge trimmers were taken from a Cutters Landscaping trailer parked on the 700 block of Oaklawn between 5 p.m. April 12 and 6:40 a.m. April 13.

A black Trek mountain bike was taken from a garage on the 100 block of North Larch between 8 p.m. April 13 and 7 a.m. April 14. Loss is estimated at $700.

Two backpack blowers and a hedge trimmer were taken from an unlocked landscaping trailer at Four Seasons Landscaping, 915 S. Riverside Drive, between 6:30 p.m. April 13 and 6:50 a.m. April 15. The chain link fence around the property was cut.

A Behringer amplifier worth $250 was taken from the chapel area of Elmhurst Church of Our Savior, 116 E. Church St., between 9:30 p.m. April 10 and 8 a.m. April 14.

A purse was taken from a counter in the main hallway at Elm Church, 343 S. York Road, at 2:15 p.m. April 17.

Blue jeans containing a wallet and a $100 Samsung Galaxy 2 cell phone and case were taken from an unlocked locker in the men's locker room at Elmhurst YMCA, 211 W. First St., at 4:25 p.m. April 19. The wallet contained a drivers license, gas card, cash and miscellaneous papers.

A man with braided hair was seen taking two iPhones worth $620 each from B Wireless, 361 S. Route 83, at 5:13 p.m. April 21. He was last seen running behind Kohl's.

A wallet was taken from the fitness center at Elmhurst College, 190 S. Prospect Ave., at 10:29 a.m. April 22. The victim contacted the front desk employee, who said a student turned in the wallet. The victim noticed the wallet was missing $80. The student who found the wallet was contacted by Elmhurst College security, and he said when he turned it in, it still contained the $80. An investigation is pending.

A tote bag containing women's clothing and Apple headphones was taken from a vehicle parked on a lot on the 500 block of South York Road between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. April 22. The rear passenger side window of the vehicle was broken out to gain entry. Damage and loss is estimated at $600.

A backpack was stolen from an unlocked locker at the Elmhurst YMCA, 211 W. First St., between 9:30 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. April 23. The backpack was later recovered, but the $60 that had been inside it was missing, police said.

A Garmin GPS unit and 17 DVDs were taken from a van parked on a driveway of a home on the 100 block of Pine between April 10 and 21. The victim could not recall if she locked the doors, and due to the unknown and lengthy time frame, no evidence was collected and neighborhood interviews were not done. Loss is estimated at $350.

A Garmin GPS, charging cord and a makeup bag worth $101 were taken from an unlocked vehicle parked on the 300 block of Highview between 6 p.m. April 23 and 8:30 a.m. April 24.

A guitar and an amplifier were stolen from the front porch of a home on the 100 block of Clinton between 10 and 10:30 a.m. April 18. The owner left the items on the porch to dry out due to flood damage. Loss is estimated at $4,000.

Someone removed three center hub cap covers from a vehicle parked on the west parking lot at Kohl's, 303 S. Route 83, between 2 and 2:10 p.m. April 25.

Identity Theft

A resident of the 800 block of South Colfax tried to file a tax return through an accountant and was told someone already had filed using their personal information. Police were notified on April 22.

A resident of the 200 block of North Geneva received a letter congratulating him on his new Blair credit card. The victim did not apply for the credit card and contacted the business, which advised him of a $99.97 charge. The victim also received a letter from Comenity Capital Bank advising him of another credit card opened in his name. The incidents occurred on March 19.

Forgery

A resident of the 500 block of South Parkside told police that someone stole or found her checkbook and wrote five checks totaling $6,900 on April 2. All the checks were returned to the bank because there was only $25 in the account. The victim has had various people working on her home and taking care of her cat.

Fraud

A resident of the 600 block of South York Street responded to a PayDay Loan email advertisement. For two days, between April 10 and 11, the victim received numerous phone calls from a person purporting to be from PayDay Loans. The caller instructed him to obtain a prepaid cash card, load it with cash to pay the loan fee, supply the card information to the caller and the caller said he would deposit funds onto the prepaid cash card. The complainant recognized this as a scam and did not give out any information.

A resident of Oak Street received a call from someone advising him he won $3.7 million at 11 a.m. April 16. The caller said he had to send $708 in order to collect the money. The victim did not send the money.

A man about 25 to 30 years old, with black shoulder-length hair parted in the middle and wearing blue scrubs, tried to pay for merchandise at Lover's Cigar Store, 176 N. York Road, with a $20 counterfeit bill at 1 p.m. April 19.

An unknown suspect has been using fraudulent checks to purchase groceries and cash checks totaling more than $2,000 at Dominick's stores around the Chicago area, police said. The suspect was seen at the Elmhurst Dominick's, 215 S. Route 83, at 11:09 a.m. April 10 using a fraudulent check to purchase groceries. An investigation is pending.

Patch reports on law enforcement activity using information provided by official agencies. Persons charged with a crime or issued a citation for violation of a local ordinance are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. If you or a family member are charged with a crime or cited for a violation and the charge or citation is subsequently adjudicated, we encourage you to contact karenc@patch.com and we will do follow-up reporting on the case.