Man impersonates police officer to get info on business

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Forest Park police say an unknown man was able to get sensitive financial information about a Madison Street business by passing himself off as a police officer.

On June 9, at 5:56 p.m., the business’ landline got a call from a number that came up as “unknown” on the caller ID. When an employee picked up the phone, a man identified himself as a Forest Park police officer, calling himself either “Officer Johnson” or “Officer Johanssen.”

The man asked the employee to go somewhere private, told her that there was something fraudulent going on in the business, and that they must not accept cash, only credit cards, for the remainder of the day.

After getting her name and cellphone number, the man called her back on her phone from a number those caller ID read “FOREST PRK VILL” and texted her Forest Park Police Department’s non-emergency office phone number. The man said that he did it so that the employee could confirm that he was a police officer.

He then called her cellphone back from another “no caller ID” number and told her to take the cash out of the register and count it up. The man also asked her if there was any other place where the cash was stored, and she responded that they had a safe upstairs. He also asked her how many employees were working at the shop.

As the employee went upstairs to check the safe, she ran into the shop owner. She told the man that she would tell her boss what was going on. The man asked to speak to the owner, but quickly hung up.

The owner and the employee reported the incident to the police.

Forest Park police help nab robbery suspect

A Forest Park police officer played a role in apprehending a robbery suspect who led police from multiple agencies from Lombard all the way to Elmwood Park on June 11 at 7:10 p.m.

The suspect raced eastbound on I-290 in a black 2019 Jeep Wrangler, pursued by the Illinois State Police and Lombard and Villa Park police departments. It exited in Maywood on 17th Avenue, headed northbound on 5th Avenue and turned eastbound on Madison Street.

A Forest6 Park officer threw a spike strip into the path of the vehicle in the 7600 block of Madison Street, deflating the tires of the car, which continued north on Harlem Avenue and then through Oak Park.

The tires of the car tore apart as it turned west on Grand Avenue, eventually crashing into a tree in the 2500 block of 74th Avenue in Elmwood Park.

The suspect was apprehended and transported to Gottlieb Memorial Hospital for treatment. Police also arrested two passengers. Villa Park police charged the driver with aggravated fleeing and eluding police.

Identity theft

A Forest Park woman discovered that someone hacked into her online Walmart store account after she noticed that her bank account was overdrawn.

The victim told the police that, on June 7, she was checking her bank account when she noticed that it was $245.96 overdrawn. She then received a text message from Walmart stating that her order was ready for pick-up at the store’s Forest Park location, 1300 Desplaines Ave. The victim told the police that she didn’t make any orders.

After checking her Walmart account, she saw that the pick-up order was for groceries, and that someone placed an order for a 14-foot trampoline slated to be shipped to her home address.

The victim contacted Walmart, and was told that the order was stated to be picked up by someone whose name she didn’t know. She asked Walmart to cancel the order, changed her Walmart account password and notified her bank of the unauthorized transaction.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, June 6-12, and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Unless otherwise indicated, anybody named in these reports has only been charged with a crime. These cases have not been adjudicated.

Compiled by Igor Studenkov