Crime & Safety

Police Blotter: Grandson Impostor Tries to Scam Woman Out of $2.6K

Downers Grove police reports, Aug. 3-9

THURSDAY, AUG. 9

Phone scam

A woman received a call around 1 p.m. from a man who claimed to be her grandson, said. The man told the woman he needed $2,650 in cash because he had been involved in a car accident. The woman ended the conversation after the man told her to send the money, via Western Union, from Ultra Foods, 1212 75th St. She called her grandson, who said he was at work and had not gotten into an accident. Police tried to call the suspect back, but the phone number didn’t work.

Man banned from 7-Eleven for calling clerk names

Joseph E. Henderson, 30, of the 300 block of East Washington Street in Joliet, was arrested around 7:13 a.m. at 7-Eleven, 5105 Fairview Ave., police said. A store employee said that Henderson was asking store patrons for money as they went in and out of the store, police said. The employee said that he had entered the store around 1:45 a.m. and demanded that she sell him alcohol, police said. He called her an inappropriate name after she refused to sell him alcohol, police said. The clerk said he was already drunk and it was past the legal time to sell alcohol, police said. Police banned Henderson from the store because of the encounter. Henderson was charged with commercial solicitation without a permit and served with a trespass form for the 7-Eleven, police said. 

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Vandalized stop sign

Someone put black paint under the word “Stop” on a traffic sign at the intersection of Highland and Prairie, police said. The paint caused about $100 in damage. 

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 8

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Hotel guest says he wants to “extinguish the world”

A man started making “abnormal” statements in the lobby of Red Roof Inn, 1100 Butterfield Rd., around 5:45 p.m., police said. Hotel staff told police the man said he wanted to “extinguish the world.” A guest reported the man was scaring people, police said. The man denied making the statements when police questioned him in his hotel room but claimed all government agencies were “in on it.” Police said the man, though talking irrationally, was not a harm to himself or other hotel guests. No charges were filed. 

TUESDAY, AUG. 7

$3.7K in tools stolen from van

Nearly $3,700 worth of tools were taken from a van parked overnight in a driveway on the 5700 block of Lyman Avenue, police said. There was no sign of forced entry into the van. The owner told police he might have forgotten to lock the door. 

SATURDAY, AUG. 4

Hotel room burglarized

About $330 in cash was taken from a guest room at InnTown, 2500 Ogden Ave., police said. The guest, who has been staying at the hotel since January, told police he was gone Aug. 1-4, and returned to find the nightstand ransacked. Papers were strewn from the open drawer and the cash was missing, police said.

FRIDAY, AUG. 3

Possession of alcohol by a minor

Phillip O. Adams, 18, of the 7400 block of Larchwood in Woodridge, was arrested around 10:49 p.m. near the intersection of 75th and Plainfield in Darien, police said. Downers Grove police followed a car from Stockley Road and Canterbury in Downers Grove into Darien to “ascertain where he might be going and what activities he may be involved in.” The car pulled over on Cumnor, and a black SUV pulled up beside it, police said. Someone got out of the car and gave something from the car’s trunk to one of the passengers in the SUV, police said. Officers said they followed the SUV, which Adams was driving, and pulled it over near 75th and Plainfield after seeing it swerve a few times. There was a 30-pack of beer in the back seat, police said. Everyone in the car was younger than 21, police said. Adams was charged with possession of alcohol by a minor. 


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