Five Chicago Men Charged with Oak Park Burglaries

Five young men from Chicago each face two counts of burglary for break-ins in Oak Park last week and could be charged in connection with similar incidents, authorities said. 

The five are also suspected of armed robbery in River Forest, authorities in both towns said Monday.

Lawaun R. Bell, 20, Terrance Johnson, 19, Ellis Hatley, 18; Paul Townes, 21 and Dezmund E. Oliver, 18, are accused of burglarizing automobiles in the 1000 block of South Taylor and the 1100 block of South Lyman sometime between Sept. 22 and Sept. 23, police said.

The five are also suspected of damaging four other cars during the same time frame, Oak Park Cmdr. LaDon Reynolds said.

They also could be prosecuted at a later date for an armed robbery in River Forest, Sgt. Mike Thornley with the River Forest Police Department said.

The five were caught around 1 a.m. Friday in the 0-100 block of Harvard Street after an officer followed their Chevrolet, which sped away from one incident and parked in an alley at Humphrey and Lyman avenues, police said.

The officer first caught sight of the car parked in the mouth of that alley, then saw three men run from the rear of a home in the 1100 block of Lyman and into the Chevrolet, police said.

Officers arriving at the scene spotted a power cord hanging from a trunk, which one suspect had tried to slam shut before making their getaway.

After seeing the cord and other items in the trunk, police returned to the 1100 block of Lyman and found that a 2001 Oldsmobile Intrepid had been burglarized.

An additional investigation found the men were involved in a burglary in the 1000 block of South Taylor in which $5 was taken from a 2004 Cadillac CTS, Reynolds said.

Other cases under investigation include:

• A break-in to a 2006 Mercedes CLS parked in the 1000 block of South Cuyler Avenue in which a laptop computer was stolen.
• Vandalism to a 2006 Volkswagen Jetta parked in the 1000 block of Lyman Avenue.
• Vandalism to a 2007 Volkswagen Jetta also parked in the 1000 block of Lyman Avenue.

Information about another incident in the 200 block of South Maple Avenue was not immediately available.

The same day in River Forest incident, authorities say, several men matching the descriptions of the accused in Oak Park, kicked, punched and robbed a man of his cell phone, $6 in cash, his new Adidas sneakers and a pack of cigarettes.

That incident took place near the River Forest Public Works garage, 45 Forest Ave., police said.  

Reynolds said the five were also connected with an incident in Cicero, but efforts to reach police in that town were unsuccessful.