Drivers Of Stolen Vehicle Ditch Cops, Dump Car: Wilmette Crimes

WILMETTE, IL — The following information comes from the Wilmette Police Department as a record of incidents reported to the police and those recently arrested. Readers are reminded that an arrest is not an indication of guilt and criminal charges are often dropped or reduced. All persons named are innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law beyond a reasonable doubt.

INCIDENTS

THEFT

A resident reported the registration sticker from their vehicle had been stolen sometime between June 3 and July 2 at an unknown location.

RETAIL THEFT

Police were called to a report of a retail theft that had just occurred in the 1500 block of Sheridan Road at 12:47 a.m. on July 3. Police were told approximately $500 worth of silverware was stolen by a man who fled toward Sheridan Road before police arrived. The suspect was described as a six foot tall white man in his 40's and wearing a White Sox hat.

THEFT

On July 4 between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., a caller told police he had been swimming at a friend's private beach somewhere in the 900 block of Michigan Avenue. He reported leaving his cell phone unattended on the beach, and when he returned it was gone. He told police there were numerous other people in the area at the time.

THEFT

Sometime between 12:45 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. on July 6, someone stole a red mountain bike valued at $600 that had been locked to the bicycle rack adjacent to Central Avenue at the Metra lot in the 700 block of Green Bay Road.

AUTO BURGLARY

At 4:49 a.m. on July 7, a resident in the 700 block of Lacrosse Avenue called to report an auto burglary in progress. When they arrived, police encountered three vehicles (silver Mercedes, black Volvo and burgundy Chrysler) that fled the area. A short time later, officers decided to terminate their pursuits. A resident described one subject as a black male teenager with short dreadlocks and wearing a jersey shirt. Upon further investigation, officers also discovered numerous auto burglaries. At this time, there were 22 vehicles burglarized at 16 different locations. There were three men’s suits taken from one vehicle, a set of house keys from another and small amount of change from two vehicles, however, the majority appeared to have nothing taken.

STOLEN AUTOS RECOVERED

A resident in the 700 block of Lamon Avenue reported on the morning of July 7 that his silver Mercedes Benz had been stolen overnight after he had left the key fob inside. Police said it was one of the three vehicles that had fled the area earlier that morning. The vehicle was later found by Chicago police in the 5600 block of S. Racine Avenue in Chicago. Police also recovered a Mercedes SUV that had been stolen from a jurisdiction in Lake County and one of the other fleeing vehicles was later found abandoned by Skokie police at the intersection of Oakton Avenue and Skokie Boulevard. That vehicle had been stolen July 4 from Indiana, police said.

» READ MORE: 22 Unlocked Vehicles Burgled in Wilmette in a Single Day

DUMPSTER FIRE

Police were called to assist the fire department with a dumpster fire at a Starbucks in the 3200 block of Lake Avenue on July 7 at 8:25 p.m. The reported damage to the dumpster exceeds $150. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, police said.

THEFT

A resident of the 1900 block of Schiller Avenue reported at 7:30 on July 7 that someone had stolen various patio furniture from the front porch.

BURGLARY

A resident of the 100 block of Maple Avenue reported at 3:15 p.m. on July 8 that they noticed their vehicle had been rummaged through and the garage door opener was missing from inside the vehicle that had been parked in their driveway. The resident subsequently discovered that a white 2012 Cannondale Synapse road bike had been stolen from his attached garage.

FIRE INVESTIGATION

Officers responded to the 800 block of Skokie Boulevard at 12:18 p.m. on July 9 and discovered a section of the fence and surrounding trees on the northeast corner of the property engulfed in flames. The fire department extinguished the fire. An employee at the business was unable to review video surveillance but told police the video surveillance system may have captured the fire and would hopefully assist in determining if the fire was associated with criminal mischief.

THEFT

A resident of the 2000 block of Highland Avenue reported that various patio furniture had been stolen from their residence between July 4 and July 8.

STOLEN VEHICLE

On July 10 at 3:22 a.m., a Wilmette officer noticed a vehicle enter Eden’s Plaza parking lot off of Skokie Boulevard. The vehicle abruptly turned south through the lot ignoring the stop signs and turned west on Lake. The officer followed attempting to determine the license plate number of the vehicle. The officer observed there were two black male occupants in the vehicle. The driver reached the bottom of the exit ramp and then turned northbound in the southbound lanes of I-94 and accelerated rapidly. The officer stopped following the vehicle at that point. The vehicle was located at I-94 southbound at the Skokie exit ramp damaged and unoccupied. The vehicle was reported stolen out of jurisdiction in Lake County. State Police took custody of the vehicle but its occupants were not located.

ARRESTS/CITATIONS

DUI

Tej Deai, 32, of the 1400 block of Orleans Drive in Mundelein, was arrested July 4 at 2:14 a.m. and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. Police said he was pulled over for traffic offenses and they smelled the strong odor of alcohol coming from his vehicle. Police said the driver displayed signs of impairment, was arrested and refused further testing.

THEFT

Loss prevention at the Bed, Bath and Beyond reported they had an employee in custody for the theft of a gift card at 6:25 p.m. on July 5. The employee, a 53-year-old Glenview woman, found a customer’s gift card in the store and subsequently used it to make various purchases totaling approximately $30, police were told. The employee was cited under local ordinance for the theft.

CANNABIS POSSESSION

A vehicle was stopped for a traffic violation around 7:40 p.m. in the 1900 block of Lake Avenue when an officer smelled the odor of cannabis. The vehicle was searched and approximately 20 grams of cannabis was recovered. The driver, a 21-year-old Evanston woman, was cited for cannabis possession and released.

DUI

Perron M. Thurston, 44, of the 1100 block of Arbor Lane in Glenview, was arrested July 10 shortly before 1 a.m. in the West Lake Plaza parking lot in the 3200 block of Lake. Police said they found him slumped over in the drivers seat of a vehicle stopped at an exit from the parking lot with the vehicle running. Police said he had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath, his foot on the brake. There were also alcohol containers in the vehicle. Thurston refused all sobriety tests and was taken into custody for DUI and released on bond.

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