SPORTS AUTHORITY: 1 Arrest In Connection With Suburban Mob Theft

CBS2 reports tonight that one arrest has been made in connection with the mob theft of goods from a Sports Authority store in suburban Frankfort. The report does not indicate that 21-year-old Patrick Giles has been connected with an identical theft by a group at the Sports Authority at Clark and Barry.

CWB broke the story of the neighborhood Sports Authority theft on November 3.

Video of the local theft is online HERE.

TIDBITS: A Couple Of Notes From Our Scratchpad

44th Ward Alderman Tom Tunney's latest email newsletter includes this piece of positivity:

While I understand the need to utilize police overtime programs to manage city costs, it is a short-term solution to public safety. We need to focus on the bigger picture and not just keep up with attrition.  It is imperative to add more full-time officers to the Chicago Police Department in order to have the necessary resources our city needs to provide an adequate long-term public safety plan.  I am committed to ensuring that Commander Voulgaris has the resources he needs to make Lakeview a safe place to live and visit. 

Right on. While we aren't particularly optimistic about the chances of passage, it is good to hear the Alderman stake out some territory.

The alderman's statement above is in connection with an aldermanic proposal to add 500 police officers to the force next year rather than spend money on overtime. Tunney supports the proposal, which will come up for a vote early next week.

• • • 

The 19th district CAPS office will host two business safety seminars on Monday. The presentations will focus on robbery and theft prevention.

The first session will run from 11AM to noon and the second will go from 2PM to 3PM.

Both sessions will be held in the 19th district police station, 850 W. Addison.

Email the 19th district CAPS office for more info.

HALSTED DRAMA: Driver Tells Cops He's Been Shot; Claims Shooting Took Place Downtown

As 19th district police handled a couple of routine calls at Halsted and Cornelia this morning, a blue Chevy rolled up and an occupant told the officers that he had been shot.

The dramatic turn of events took place at 4:05 this morning near Halsted and Cornelia, where officers were working on a call of a person being punched in the face and another call of a patron refusing to leave Hydrate nightclub, 3458 N. Halsted.

The shooting victim was loaded into the officers' squad car and transported to Illinois Masonic Medical Center.

The victim initially indicated that the shooting took place downtown near the intersection of I-290 and 90/94. Their vehicle is registered to a suburban car rental agency.

UPDATES
DNAInfo has the best of the early info.

The incident appears to be related to these early reports, which contain little info:
ABC7
Sun-Times
Chicago Tribune

Image: Google

REVOLVING DOOR: For Teen Given 2 Years Probation In Strong Arm Robbery, The Hits Keep On Coming

A couple of items in the Sun-Times caught our eyes this morning...

Wrigleyville resident Jim Spencer speaks out in a story about the further advancement of Wrigley Field renovation plans. The part of the story that grabbed our attention was Jim's quote:

It is shocking to know the mayor is so willing to give billionaire owners of the Cubs public land so they can increase their profit margins while the residents of the 19th District are told there isn’t enough money to hire more police to replace the nearly 70 officers we’ve lost in the last 18 months.

Nearly 70 officers lost? Jim must be referring to the number of officers that 19th district police commander Elias Voulgaris publicly claimed that we've lost since March 2012.

A department spokesman said the district has actually lost 107 officers, just under 25% of our district's manpower.

We're pretty sure that's a low ball, too.

• • •

Terrell Williams

Also, the Sun-Times runs a story this morning about armed robbery offenders who get sentenced to boot camp rather than prison, in direct conflict with state law.

The story reminded us of a convicted strong arm robber who runs around in our neck of the woods.  He got off easy on the robbery charge and he seems to be having a heck of a time keeping his nose clean.

Almost-19-year-old Terrell Williams of Park Forest was arrested in January for participating in the strong arm robbery of a man who was trying to hail a cab at Belmont and Sheffield.

Cook County Criminal Court records show that Williams entered a guilty plea and received two years probation on May 16. It wasn't long before he found his way back to Wrigleyville and Boystown.

Three weeks after his plea, a petition to revoke his probation was filed after he was arrested for trespassing and assault on June 8, court records show. He was ordered onto electronic monitoring later that month.

On October 5, he allegedly got caught up in a theft of labor or services incident.

Then, on October 14, a battery charge came along and he was held on $10,000 bail, according to court documents. He managed to get out of jail, at least for a while.

Williams was arrested again this past Sunday for allegedly having contact with a street gang member while being on probation. He remains in jail this morning on $5,000 bail.

One has to wonder how many more breaks a strong arm robbery offender gets to enjoy. Since this is Cook County, the over/under is 75.

Image: Cook County Sheriff's Department

ON A ROLL: Reader Spots Even More Wheel Thefts Nearby

If you haven't read up on the rash of wheel thefts, check out our post from earlier this week.

From our inbox this afternoon:

Just saw this today, on Stockton drive, first one just south of the zoo, the next one 2 blocks north of fullerton. 

Images: CWB Reader "T"

LAUNDRY LIST: More On Area Laundry Room Break-Ins

From a reader email:

RE: laundry rooms. Do I recall correctly that the Belmont rapist a couple weeks back was seen in the building laundry room before he attacked?

These break-ins have me wondering if he was there to do a laundry room theft then saw an opportunity to attack the victim? Just a hunch since it seems unlikely that he would decide to camp out in a random laundry room on the possibility that a potential rape victim would wander into his trap inside of a random building at 4AM. Just my 2 cents.

Makes sense to us. Yes, the police report says the man was inside the building's laundry room before the sexual assault, according to the Chicago Tribune report.

A reader emails that the culprits appear to have branched out to include building mailboxes:

I live in an apartment building at 8XX. W Waveland. A few weeks ago our laundry rooms was broken into and the coin mechanisms torn out (similar to your post yesterday).

Yesterday another break-in occurred and this time multiple mailboxes were pried open. I called CPD to report the incident but they could not a file a report because my mailbox was not one of the affected mailboxes. Seems these types of break-ins are becoming more and more common. 

And a quickie from our comments section:

I don't know if it was mentioned on this blog, or even reported to CPD (management apparently only heard about it themselves days later), but you can add the 700 block of Aldine to the list of where the laundry room bandits have hit.

These guys have to be getting in somehow, probably by following a resident in. Manners are great, but they can be expensive and dangerous if the person you hold the door for has ill intentions.

FBI: Boystown Bank Robber Struck Same Branch In May

CWB has obtained a photo of a female bank robber in action inside Boystown's Jewel-Osco store this afternoon.

The woman who held up the TCF bank near Broadway and Addison robbed the same location in May, according to the FBI tonight. The agency says the suspect also robbed a TCF bank inside an Edgewater Jewel-Osco store on April 26.

FBI Chicago - 312-421-6700

CWB's full report from earlier today is HERE.

The FBI says today's suspect is also responsible for robbing TCF banks inside of Edgewater's Jewel-Osco (left) as well as the Boystown Jewel-Osco (right) in April. IMAGES: Federal Bureau of Investigation

BOYSTOWN BANK ROBBERY: Lady Bandit Strikes TCF Branch At Jewel

UPDATE 10:00PM: CWB has obtained this first image of today's bank robbery in progress. The FBI tonight says today's offender struck the same bank in April. Our original report from this afternoon follows.
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A solo bank robber made off with $500 in an afternoon heist at the TCF bank branch inside Boystown's Jewel-Osco store, 3531 N. Broadway at Addison today.

The bandit handed a note to the teller demanding money at 3:52PM. No weapon was displayed.

After reviewing video surveillance, police have updated their description of the offender: female, black, about 40 years-old, 5'6" tall, 150 pounds (also said to have a "large build"), wearing black sunglasses, a black parka with a fur hood, and a black knit cap with diamond-patterned band.

The same branch was robbed almost exactly six months ago, at 3:21PM on May 21.

Police have recorded the incident in CPD case #HW541217.

FBI Chicago - 312-421-6700

Image: Federal Bureau of Investigation

BREAKING: Bank Robbed Inside Boystown Jewel

UPDATE: A full story and updated description is now online HERE.

CHANGE FOR THE WORST: Laundry Thief Hits On Waveland. Again.

Wondering what a laundry room break-in looks like? Here you go.

We received this pic and info from D.O. today:

Another laundry room break-in last night on the 900 block of Waveland. Two washers and two dryers had their coin mechanisms pried out to get to the coins inside. I've attached a photo.