Thefts Reported At Restaurants On Ogden and 75th Street: Police Blotter

TUESDAY, FEB. 26

Theft By Deception

The manager of a restaurant on the 1600 block of Ogden Avenue at 11:55 p.m. told police he had security footage of two men who deceived an employee out of $87 from a cash register. The manager confirmed this after closing out the registers at the end of the night.

The video depicts the two men enter the business via the east doors at 7:45 p.m. One of the men, who appeared to be 40 to 50 years old, had unaligned eyes and was missing two front teeth, placed an order at Register #2. The other man appeared to be in his late twenties. He stood near the other register and asked questions about the restaurant's cookies to another employee. The manager noticed that the younger man appeared to make lots of eye contact with him.

The responding officer later spoke to a male cashier from the incident over the phone. The cashier told the office that the older man ordered two cookies for $1.08. When the cash drawer was open, he first asked for change for a $5 bill. Then he proceeded to ask for different amounts six to seven times. The largest bill that he produced was a $50 bill. After the men left, the cashier informed his manager that "he felt like he was just scammed out of money," according to a police report. The manager intends to sign complaints against the men.

Phone Theft at DGS

A Downers Grove South High School student told a School Resource Officer at 8:13 a.m. that someone took her Samsung Galaxy SII phone from the girls swim locker room. The incident occurred sometime between 1:35 p.m. and 2:25 p.m. Feb. 25 during her gym class. The student put the phone inside her backpack, but did not secure the backpack inside her locker before going to the pool for class. When she came back inside to change, she discovered her cell phone was missing. The phone was valued at $150.

MONDAY, FEB. 25

Pay or Get Out

A manager at a buffet-style restaurant on the 1400 block of 75th Street at about 8 p.m. talked to police about a theft involving a man who keeps coming into the restaurant and eating without paying for food. The man appears to be between 25 and 30 years old. On this day he wore a white Adidas hoodie and jeans as he came into the restaurant through the exit door while talking on his cell phone at about 6:24 p.m.

The man went towards the man's bathroom and continued to talk on his cell phone. A second man then entered the restaurant, also talking on his cell phone, and paid for the buffet. The men then took food from the buffet and sat down to eat. The manager recognized the man in the hoodie as the repeat scammer. He has done this about five to 10 times and comes into the restaurant about once a month.

The manager reviewed security footage and saw that one of the men didn't pay, so he or she confronted them. The man in the hoodie showed the second man's receipt and said that he paid for his meal. When the manager told them he was calling the police, one of the men said "So you're going to make a big deal out of it?" The men then got into an unknown vehicle and left.

The manager did not wish to sign complaints, but plans to call police the next time the man comes into the restaurant so he can be banned from the property.

Criminal Damage

A man told an officer shortly before 5 p.m. that someone damaged his fence and a shrub in his backyard, located on the 900 block of Bonnie Brae Drive. There were tire tracks in the snow and sod by the damaged fence. It appears a vehicle might have been northbound on nearby Blackstone Drive and continued northbound across Oxford Street, over the parkway and sidewalk and into the fence and shrub. The man said the incident occurred sometime between 6 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. The roads were clear and dry with no ice spots on the pavement.

Looking for more Downers Grove police news?

• Downers Grove Woman Killed in Car Crash; Firefighter Charged with Reckless Homicide

• Drug Ring Members Brought Heroin from Chicago to West Suburbs: Police

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Police Blotter information is provided by local law enforcement agencies. Charges are not evidence of guilt. They are a record of police actions taken on a given day, and persons charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court. If you or a family member are charged or cited and the case is subsequently adjudicated, we encourage you to notify the editor. We will verify and report the outcome.