Unlocked Cars + Garage Door Openers = Trouble: Wilmette & Winnetka Crime

WILMETTE, IL — The following information comes from the Wilmette and Winnetka police as a record of their departments' activity. An arrest is not an indication of guilt and criminal charges represent merely an accusation. Everyone is presumed innocent unless their guilt is established in a court of law beyond a reasonable doubt.

HOME BURGLARY/CAR THEFT

In the early morning hours of Friday, March 24, someone entered a single family home on the 400 block of Sandy Lane through an unlocked garage inner service door. It appears that the garage overhead may have been opened using a garage door opener in an unlocked vehicle parked on the driveway. The burglar then rummaged through drawers and cabinets on the first floor of the home. A television, computer monitors, and various pieces of small electronic equipment were taken. The thief was able to locate a set of car keys and also stole a 2011 gray Honda Odyssey mini-van.

FRAUD

On March 23 at 8:30 p.m. police responded to the Jewel grocery store at 1517 Sheridan for a fraud call. A caller reported a woman had just paid using apparently counterfeit currency. Jewel staff gave police descriptions of the suspects and their car. It was spotted and stopped at 10th and Ashland. A 27-year-old woman and a 17-year-old girl from Chicago were fingered as the people who had paid with counterfeit currency. An addtional thousand dollars was found hidden in the dashboard and on the man who was driving. The same man was arrested a month ago, also for using counterfeit cash. The same fake bills are being using in Ohio and Illinois, according to their serial numbers. The 17-year-old was detained on a juvenile warrant for removing a monitoring bracelet she was ordered to wear after a previous charge for robbery. "Felony Review denied charges on both adults," according to police.

BURGLARIES (FROM UNLOCKED CARS)

Sometime between 10:30 p.m. on March 23 and 7:45 a.m. on March 24, someone got into an unlocked 2012 Audi parked in the driveway on the 300 block of Sunset Drive, but nothing immediately appeared to be stolen.

Sometime between 8 p.m. on March 23 and 7:30 a.m. on March 24, someone entered an unlocked Ford Escape parked on a driveway in the 500 block of Karey Court. Only loose change and a garage opener were stolen. That opener may have been used to gain access to the attached garage, but nothing was reported missing from the garage.

Sometime between 11 p.m. on March 23 and 7:30 a.m. on March 24, someone entered an unlocked vehicle parked on the driveway of a home on the 300 block of Beverly Drive and used the garage door opener to open the overhead garage door. It is unsure what was stolen at this time.

Sometime between 8:30 p.m. on March 23 and 1:45 p.m. on and March 24. Someone entered an unlocked Toyota Prius parked in a driveway on the 200 block of Westmoreland Avenue and stole three condoms and possibly a $20 US bill.

FRAUD

At 8:30 p.m. on March 23, the manager of the Starbucks at 1515 Sheridan Road reported two African-American women entered the store and used $100 in counterfeit bills to make purchases.

Sometime between Feb. 16 and March 10, someone used a victim's credit card numbers on four occasions against the victim’s Chase Mastercard account.

On March 20, at 5:18 p.m., a victim reported someone used his personal information to open a Lowes and a Best Buy credit card and made fraudulent purchases using both cards on Feb. 15.

CRIMINAL DAMAGE

Sometime between 9:00 p.m. on March 17 and 4:00 a.m. on March 20, someone entered a train lot and spray painted 16 train cars in total. Police noted the tags “CIA” and “BTM” at the 339 Linden Avenue CTA depot.

IDENTITY THEFT

Sometime between March 15 and March 21, a caller on the 100 block of Linden reported that someone had used her credit card information to make purchases.

CRIMINAL DAMAGE TO PLAYGROUND

Sometime between between 7 a.m. on March 20 and 9 a.m. on March 23, someone damaged playground equipment at Highcrest School.

THEFT

Sometime between 10:40 a.m. and 1 p.m. on March 24, someone stole a stroller left on a front lawn on the 600 block of Knox Avenue.

DUI

Edgar Alanis, 28, of the 3600 block of North Bernard Street in Chicago, was arrested after a traffic stop at Skokie Avenue and Glenview Road at 10:36 p.m.. Police said the driver had a strong odor of alcohol on breath, slurred speech and reddened eyes. Alanis refused field sobriety tests and was placed under arrest for DUI.

TRAFFIC/WARRANT ARREST

Around midnight on March 26, police pulled over a car for registration violation and found the driver to have a bond forfeiture warrant out of Joliet. Kelvin Cristopher, 23, of the 100 block of North Laramie in Chicago was arrested without incident and his vehicle was towed. He was issued a citation and posted bond on the Joliet warrant.

THEFT

$16,800 in jewelry was stolen from a master bedroom on the 400 block of Central Avenue sometime between March 4 and 17, according to a victim.

SHOPLIFTING

A Caucasian man entered the store and stole three cans of formula from the Walgreens on 3232 Lake Avenue at 12:06pm on March 26. He left the store and entered a grey or tan Acura four door vehicle.

IDENTITY THEFT

Sometime after the start of the year, someone used the identity of a victim on the 2000 block of Beechwood Avenue to file a 2016 tax return with the IRS.

IDENTITY THEFT (WINNETKA)

A caller on the 700 block of Lincoln Avenue discovered that, at some point on March 21, someone had used the victim's personal information to order a replacement credit card, but they had failed to activate the car and there was no immediate reported loss.