Car Thief Found In Chicken Restaurant With Key To Hot Car: Cops

OAK LAWN, IL — A Chicago man was arrested after police found weed and the key to a hot car in his pocket, prosecutors said. Luis Gonzalez, 21, appeared before Cook County Judge John Mahoney on a felony charge of possession of a stolen motor vehicle.

Around 6 p.m. Dec. 12, a Lexus crashed in the parking lot of Fry the Coop restaurant, 5128 W. 95th St., Oak Lawn. A witness told police that two young men, one of them later identified as Gonzalez, got out of the car and went into the restaurant.

Police confronted Gonzalez inside the restaurant, where officers found 29 grams of cannabis and the ignition key to a red Jeep Cherokee in Gonzalez’s pocket, the prosecutor said. The car had been reported stolen on Dec. 10 and was parked in the restaurant’s parking lot.

The prosecutor said this is Gonzalez’s third arrest for possession a stolen vehicle, and is currently on probation for the same offense.

“You’re a danger, stealing and crashing cars,” Mahoney said.

Bond was denied. Gonzalez is due back in court Jan. 10 in Bridgeview.