River Forest Crime Briefs: Arrests for Armed Robbery, Warrants and Theft of Booze

A look at some of the more interesting arrests around town.

Parking Job Leads to Armed Robbery Arrest
A blue pickup truck parked illegally in a southbound Harlem Avenue traffic lane turned out the be the getaway vehicle in an ongoing armed robbery, police said.

The incident began when officers working traffic enforcement and seat belt duty at North and Harlem Avenues spotted the Ford pickup parked in the traffic lane in the wee hours of May 21.

Soon after, police spotted man running away from the at 7201 W. North Ave. and into the waiting truck. The man was later identified as 30-year-old Ramiro Forty of Elmwood Park. The driver was identified as Maria Robbins, 40, also of Elmwood Park.

Around the same time, those same officers were alerted to an armed robbery that had just taken place at the station.

Police quickly responded, pinning the truck in the back and side with their squad cars. During the stop, officers said they spotted a knife under the truck’s floorboard — the same weapon used to threaten the gas station clerk moments earlier.

Forty was charged in connection with the armed robbery; Robbins was charged with improperly parking a vehicle, driving without insurance and on suspended registration.

GPS Finds Phone Thief
A victim using a GPS system tracked her stolen cell phone to a 47-year-old woman from Cicero, police said.

The victim called police on May 20 after she went back to , 7349 W. Lake St., to rertieve the forgotten phone. Using GPS, she later tracked the phone to Greenfield Street and Woodbine Avenue in Oak Park, where Sharon Pasqua was seen trying to use it.

Pasqua was arrested on the spot and charged with theft, police said.

Booze Theft Blocked
John Pollina, 46, of Chicago, was charged with felony retail theft May 19 after stealing several bottles of liquor valued at $100 from , 7501 W. North Ave., police said.

Pollina was apprehended in the store parking lot, where he was trying to get his car started.

Thick as a Brick
A 21-year-old Hazel Crest man, arrested May 18 for throwing bricks at a car parked in the 7200 block of Oak Street, was later identified as a man wanted by DeKalb authorities for financial institution fraud.

A fingerprint revealed that William Poindexter, one of two men apprehended for the brick incident, was really Germain McDade who had been sought since April 28.

McDade was also charged with obstructing police for using an alias. Aaron Wordlaw, who was with McDade on May 18, was charged with possession of cocaine, police said.

River Forest Traffic Stop Links Man To Georgia Armed Robbery
A traffic stop for speeding led to the arrest of a Chicago man wanted on multiple armed robbery charges out of Cobb County, Ga., police said..

Kenneth Hunter-Jernigan, 20, was one of four men riding in a Ford Taurus headed west on Madison Street May 15 when River Forest police pulled the car over in the 7200 block for going 43 in a 25 mile-per-hour zone.

An investigation revealed a warrant issued last week for the arrest of Jernigan on seven counts of armed robbery, five counts of aggravated assault and burglary, police said. He will be extradited to Georgia, River Forest Sgt. Michael Thornley said.