The following items were taken from police news releases and court reports. An arrest does not constitute a finding of guilt.
Chicago Ridge
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RETAIL THEFT: Steven K. Riley, 31, Worth, was taken into custody Feb. 16 by Orland Park police on a Feb. 1 retail theft charge involving the theft of undisclosed merchandise selling for $3,000 from For Eyes, 99000 Ridgeland Avenue, police said.
Crete
RESIDENTIAL BURGLARY: Jewelry was reported taken Feb. 9 during the burglary of a home in the 27000 block of Pebble Beach Court in unincorporated Crete. A brown Chevy Traverse seen in the area near the time of the burglary is of interest, Will County sheriff’s police said.
Homer Glen
FRAUD ALLEGED: A 57-year-old Palos Heights man suspected of conducting fraudulent transactions at several CIBC banks was arrested Friday in Homer Glen and accused of five felonies and three misdemeanors, Will County sheriff’s police said. Thomas J. Hoekstra, 12100 block of 68th Court, was taken into custody at the CIBC Banking Center, 14102 Bell Road, and accused of aggravated identity theft/elderly victim, continuing financial criminal enterprise, theft of $10,000-$100,000, theft by deception $500 to $10,000, burglary, forgery, home-repair fraud and deceiving a financial institution employee, police said.
Sheriff’s deputies, responding to a fraud-in-progress call from the bank, initially detained Hoekstra as he was leaving the building, police said. Other deputies interviewed bank employees, who said they recognized Hoekstra as the person who had been reported using a fake identity to withdraw money from a victim’s account at several other CIBC locations, police said. Deputies formally arrested Hoekstra after finding an Illinois driver’s license containing his photo, “however all other information was that of the victim,” police said.
Mokena
DUI: A 32-year-old Tinley Park man arrested Feb. 24 for drunken driving got some good news: The parked vehicle he rear-ended hard enough to send careening into a roadside mailbox was unoccupied, police said. The bad news for Michael R. Coughlin, 32, of 16700 block of Forestview Drive, is that the vehicle he hit was another police department’s undercover vehicle, police said. But the worst news is Coughlin was also accused of illegally possessing a controlled substance after an officer recovered 37 black-market amphetamines potentially laced with fentanyl in an unlabeled pill container from his car, police said.
New Lenox
DUI: A New Lenox man who fell asleep at the wheel at a local intersection has been charged with two counts of possessing a controlled substance, according to Will County Circuit Court records. A patrolling officer said Samer K. Awwad, 25, 2300 block of Cardinal Drive, had black-market tranquilizer pills after finding him “in the middle of traffic” at Nelson Road and Andrea Drive at 1:30 a.m. Feb. 18, police said. Court records also show Awwad is charged with driving under the influence of an intoxicating compound and unlawful use of cannabis.
DELAYED HIJACKING: A 22-year-old Chicago man charged with robbing a man at gunpoint on Aug. 16, 2020 at a gas station in New Lenox, is scheduled to appear in Will County Circuit Court March 8 for a pretrial hearing, according to court records. Delaney N. Harris was arrested Feb. 23 on a warrant charging him with two counts of armed robbery/firearm indicated and one count of aggravated vehicular hijacking/firearm indicated, according to Will County Adult Detention Facility and Circuit Court records. Both charges are Class X felonies — a category of violent crimes that prohibits parole. Harris is also charged with lesser, but still serious, felonies of aggravated robbery with a firearm indicated, possessing a stolen vehicle and identity theft, court records show. The victim told police he was pumping gas at Route 66 Food N Fuel, 2560 Cedar Road, when two men — one brandishing a gun — approached. The duo stole the man’s wallet, cellphone and car. Harris’s older brother Tyron L. Harris, 25, 15500 block of Ashland Avenue, Harvey, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated robbery in connection with the New Lenox incident, as well as aggravated robbery in Monee one month before and aggravated robbery in Mokena, one month afterward, according to court records. Delaney Harris remained in the Will County Adult Detention Facility Wednesday in lieu of $160,000 bond, according to sheriff’s office records.
Orland Park
ARMED ROBBERY: Suspected armed-robber Nathan I. Phillips is scheduled to appear in Cook County Circuit Court at Bridgeview on a charge of armed robbery, according to Cook County records. Phillips, 60, Chicago, displayed a semi-automatic pistol while holding up the Mobil gas station at 143rd Street and Lagrange Road at approximately 5:40 p.m. Feb. 19, police said. No one was injured, police said. Investigators obtained a warrant for Phillips after linking him to the getaway car used in the incident and he was arrested Feb. 20 in Chicago at 102nd Street and Torrence Avenue, police said. He is being held without bail, according to Cook County Jail records.
Palos Hills
SPECIAL PATROL: A special patrol has been assigned to the area around H.H. Conrady Junior High School during bus drop-off times in response to a Feb. 23 report of two persons in a car asking students walking home from a bus stop “if they wanted money,” police said.
Palos Heights
DUI: Jose A. Regalado-Lopez, 35, 7700 block of New England Avenue, Burbank, was arrested and accused of drunken driving, improper parking in the roadway and driving without insurance Feb. 23 in the 7100 block of College Drive, where he was found asleep at the wheel, police said.
Park Forest
ARMED OFFENDER: A 28-year-old Merrillville, Indiana, man convicted of threatening two women in Steger with a knife in February 2021 was arrested early Monday morning and accused of being a convicted felon illegally possessing a weapon, police said. Jansen X. Wiley had a Springfield Armory 9 mm semi-automatic subcompact handgun loaded with one round in the chamber and one round in the magazine in a jacket pocket when stopped on a suspicion of drunken driving on Western Avenue at the entrance to an apartment complex south of Steger Road, police said. Will County Circuit Court records online show Wiley pleaded guilty in January to felony charges of aggravated battery and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon and is awaiting sentencing. He also was convicted of aggravated battery to a pregnant or handicapped person in 2017 in Winnebago County, police said. Wiley remained in the Will County Adult Detention Facility Wednesday in lieu of $150,000 bond, according to jail records online.
DUI: Keshawnna Scales, 29, 300 block of Sioux Street, Park Forest, was arrested and accused of drunken driving with a blood-alcohol concentration above the legal limit, failing to reduce speed to avoid a collision and improper lane use during a Feb. 26 four-car crash investigation at Sauk Trail and Indianwood Boulevard, police said. Scales hit two vehicles hard enough to push them into a third car parked in a residential driveway, police said, noting she also hit an electric company utility pole, a traffic light and a stop sign.
Steger
SHOTS FIRED: Two witnesses reported shots fired from a car passing Steger Intermediate School the evening of Feb. 24. No one was injured. Police are asking anyone with information to call the department at 708-755-0223.
DUI: John Kulik, 47, 3100 block of Green Street, Steger was arrested and accused of drunken driving Feb. 23 after hitting a parked vehicle in the first block of West 35th Street, police said.
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ILLEGAL GUN: Alize R. Paiz, 21, 3200 block of Phillips Avenue, Steger was arrested and accused of unlawful use of a weapon and interfering with a domestic-incident report after she was found to have a 9 mm handgun without an Illinois firearm owner’s identification card during a Feb. 22 domestic-incident investigation in that block.
RESIDENTIAL BURGLARY: An unoccupied home in the 3600 block of Emerald Avenue was burglarized Feb. 23. Entry was made through a window.
UNINVITED GUEST: Marcanthony C. Littlejohn Jr., 28, 18800 block of Maple Avenue, Country Club Hills, was arrested Feb. 14 in the 3700 block of Green Street and subsequently charged with witness tampering and criminal trespass to a residence with a person present, according to police and court records.
University Park
BURGLARY: Nashon Perez Haywood Jr., 19, 900 block of Blackhawk Drive, University Park, was charged with burglary and criminally damaging property in connection with a Feb. 19 incident at a home the 800 block of Pin Oak Lane, University Park, according to Will County Circuit Court records. Haywood remained in the Will County Adult Detention Facility Wednesday in lieu of $100,000 bond, according to sheriff’s records online.