Crete Woman Accused Of Stealing A Bumper In Palos Heights

PALOS HEIGHTS, IL — A Crete woman has been charged with felony theft after police said she was found in possession of a bumper that was stolen last summer in Palos Heights.

Melaine G Lebron, 30, turned herself into police last Thursday, after being identified in surveillance video, Palos Heights police said.

An employee of a business near 119th Street and Harlem Avenue filed a police report on Aug. 31, stating that the front bumper of his vehicle had been stolen. According to police, the employee had listed the vehicle for sale on Facebook marketplace and garnered interest from a potential buyer, who asked questions about whether the front bumper had ever been replaced or repaired.

Palos Heights police were able to obtain security video from businesses that shared the parking lot and identified the suspect’s vehicle. Detectives went to multiple addresses associated with the suspect vehicle’s owner and his girlfriend, police said.

According to reports, detectives saw the employee’s bumper on the suspect’s property. The girlfriend, later identified as Lebron, had borrowed her boyfriend’s vehicle the day of the alleged theft. Lebron’s phone records also placed her at the address on the day and time of the theft,

Police believe the bumper was taken to be used to repair another vehicle.

Lebron agreed to turn herself in at the Palos Heights police station, police said. She was released on her own recognizance after a detention hearing at the Bridgeview Courthouse.