Crime & Safety

Identity Thief Ruins Romantic Getaway: Weird Crimes

Men get five-fingered discount on purse shopping • Snoopy mailbox disappears a day after resident sets up Christmas decorations ... This week's roundup of weird crime news in the Southland.

Romantic Paradise Lost Identity


Dec. 13: A Sybaris worker who stole a customer's credit card number to buy a pair of boots surrendered to the Frankfort cops Tuesday, police said.

Ivan Villegas, 22, of 7504 Hickory Creek Drive in Frankfort was arrested on a charge of identity theft. Villegas was released from custody after posting bond.

Villegas stole a credit card number from a Sybaris guest, said Frankfort Deputy Police Chief Kevin Keegan. The criminal complaint against Villegas said he used the woman's MasterCard information on Dec. 13 "to fraudulently obtain boots."

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Keegas said Villegas made the footwear purchase online.

A Sybaris representative contacted Tuesday night that Villegas no longer works at the West Lincoln Highway "romantic paradise."

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Read more on Frankfort Patch


Men With Purses

Nov. 12: Two Chicago men are accused of taking four purses worth about $1,000 total from a department store and running away from police, according to an Orland Park police report.

Emmanuel D. Guyton, 19, of the 1300 block of Touhy Avenue in Chicago, and Odell D. Harris, 19, of the 6900 block of Laflin Avenue in Chicago, were each charged with felony retail theft.

On Nov. 12, police were called about two men running near the Citibank at about 147th Street and LaGrange Road around 10:40 a.m. Officers caught the two men after a foot chase, and found four Michael Kors purses nearby, according to the report. The purses still had tags on them, and the men had no purchase receipts. They were both wearing electronic monitoring bracelets, police said.

Store security said they saw both men remove purses from displays around 10:30 a.m., and left the store without paying, according to the report. Guyton admitted to taking the purses while interviewed by police, though Harris remained silent, police said.

The purses are worth $968.

Read more on Orland Park Patch


Bye, Bye Snoopy


Nov. 30: A mechanical Snoopy mailbox was snatched from the front lawn of a home in the 16900 block of South Sayre Avenue.

The ornament featuring the beloved Peanuts comic dog was stolen sometime between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Nov. 30, the 29-year-old owner told police.

The woman had finished up her exterior Christmas decorations in her front yard earlier that day, according to a Tinley Park police report. Everything was in working order. After leaving the house for several hours, the owner returned and found she could not get the decorations to light up.

Checking the next day, the homeowner discovered that the ornament was missing, the report states.

The Snoopy mailbox is 2-3 feet tall, illuminates and moves, the report states. It costs $80 to replace.

An officer checked the neighborhood but did not could not find the ornament.

Read more on Tinley Park Patch


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