Monee Police Blotter: April 4 – 10

April 4, at approximately 4:20 p.m., an officer stopped a vehicle for expired registration that soon evolved into a felony criminal damage to state supported property and possession of controlled substance. K-9 Cap alerted to the presence of drugs, and a follow up search uncovered a powder substance that tested as oxycodone. Other unknown substances were confiscated for analysis. Joseph Keating, 36, of Chicago, was charged with the narcotics and further charged with felony criminal damage after he attempted to kick his way out of the squad car. He failed and damage was minor. The driver, Kehinder Buchanan, 23, of Chicago, was charged with no valid registration. He was processed and bonded. Keating was taken to Will County.

April 5, at approximately 2:30 a.m., officers responded to an alarm at Hawks Liquors on Monee-Manhattan Road. A broken window was discovered. Officers secured the facility and processed a burglary scene. Video evidence indicated four offenders, in all black, made entry and searched the store. Inventory of possible missing items is still in progress. Investigations following up.

April 7, at approximately 9:20 p.m., Marcus Pickens, 52, of Richton Park, was charged with driving while suspended after being stopped for a lighting violation at Rt. 50 and Monee-Manhattan Road. He was processed and bonded.

April 8, at approximately 3 p.m., MPD took a report of fraud, when the victim of a January house fire reported a relative for setting up a ‘Go Fund Me’ account and then keeping the money for herself. She stated her cousin set up the account, supposedly to aid her after her home was totally destroyed by fire. The cousin then took the nearly $4,000 in donations and has not responded to several calls from the victim.  Investigations following up.

April 8, at approximately 11 p.m., officers were called to Amazon for a theft report. Charged with misdemeanor theft was Trevon Easton, 19, of Chicago. He was processed and bonded. The ear pods were recovered.

April 10, at approximately 6 p.m., officers took a theft by deception report. The victim sold an item on ‘Facebook Marketplace,’ then received notice of an over payment. He received an email from ‘Zelle” that he needed to send the overpayment in before his money would be released to him. The ‘Zelle’ email was fake, and the payment was never received. Investigations following up.

MPD takes between four-to-eight fraud, identity theft, and theft-by-deception reports weekly. Most are related to telephone or internet scams. Don’t send cash or gift cards to anyone you don’t know! Don’t give personal information to anyone you don’t know! Always verify when seemingly legitimate companies request either of these from you, and the IRS probably doesn’t have time to issue a warrant for your arrest!!

REMEMBER: The Illinois Attorney General posts consumer fraud information regularly. Another excellent resource for consumer protection is on the USA.gov site. Call MPD if you’re not sure, we will check for you!

Anyone, with information or who wishes to speak to an officer about an incident, is asked to contact Det. DePaolo at 708-534-8308.