No Bail For Oak Lawn Man Charged With Stealing Fire Chief’s SUV

BRIDGEVIEW, IL—An Oak Lawn man accused of stealing a Bridgeview Fire Department vehicle is being held without bail following a hearing Saturday at the Leighton Criminal Courts Building. Thomas Wrobel, 52, was charged with aggravated possession of a stolen motor vehicle, fleeing and eluding, assault to a police officer, driving on a revoked driver’s license and resisting arrest.

The Bridgeview battalion chief’s red command SUV was left idling, unattended, in front of the Brigeview firehouse near 100th Place and Harlem Avenue at approximately 11 a.m. Friday. Wrobel is believed to have entered the vehicle and taken off before anyone could follow it. Burbank police spotted the red command vehicle at 87th Street and Harlem. A Chicago Police Department helicopter joined the pursuit.

Wrobel allegedly drove the car into Chicago, past 71st Street and Stony Island, through Hyde Park and then northbound on Lake Shore Drive. Chicago police stopped Wrobel several hours later near Monroe Avenue in Chicago. Wrobel refused to exit the vehicle, so police broke the rear driver’s side passenger window and pulled Wrobel out, Bridgeview police said in a news release.

Wrobel’s last known address is 6300 block of West 92nd Street in Oak Lawn. His next court date is scheduled for July 31 in Bridgeivew.