Police Blotter: Drunk Passenger, Defacing St. Damian's, Stolen GPS Units

Saturday, March 26

Drunk Rider

A Tinley Park man told police he was robbed by his taxi driver in the 5600 block of West 159th Street, saying he had hired the cab to take him from downtown Chicago to his home in Tinley Park. The man said he was highly intoxicated and vomited inside the cab. The man says he got out of the cab when he was told, and the cab driver also got out, pried the man’s cell phone and wallet from his hands, then drove way. Later, the man learned the cab driver had charged $86.22 to his debit card for the ride and presumably the vomit cleanup.

Scott G. Brngal, 26, of the 5100 block of Carolyn Court in Oak Forest, was charged with battery. The reporting officer said he was stopped at 159th Street and 80th Avenue around 9:45 p.m. when he saw Brngal get out of the passenger side of a Dodge Ram and spit on a Mercedes. The driver of the Mercedes told police he and Brngal has gotten into a shouting match minutes earlier when the Dodge Ram cut him off.

Defacing St. Damian's

Someone spray-painted the north side of the garage at , staff told police.

Two Taken GPS Units

• A woman in the 16000 block of S. Long Avenue told police that someone snatched her TomTom GPS unit from her GMC Yukon.

No Such Taurus

A man in the 15800 block of Central Avenue told police that he arrived home to a notice that he owed $1,339 for a 2004 Ford Taurus. He does not own a Ford Taurus. He told police that in 2006 he was living in Midlothian, his apartment was burglarized and his Social Security card was taken.

Stolen Laptop

Police responded to call of a burglary 15200 block of Kilpatrick. A man told police he had gone outside to his detached garage to work on his car. When he left the garage 15 minutes later, he saw the back door of his house open and his cat sitting on the porch. When he went back inside the house, he found that someone had taken his guitar and an HP Pavilion laptop from the kitchen.

Credit and Then Theft

Nicole C. Harvey, 29, of the 23400 block of Western Avenue in Oak Forest, was charged with felony retail theft, according to Tinley Park Police. Security at a department store 7500 block of 191st Street told police that Harvey entered their store around 1 p.m., picked up two pairs of pants from a shelf and fraudulently returned them for credit. She then used that credit to make several legitimate purchases, but before leaving the store stuffed $293 worth of clothing into her large purse, police said.

Gold Bracelet Snatched

A man in the 14800 block of Landings told police that a gold bracelet valued at $12,000 was stolen from his residence. The man said his son, a heroin addict, admitted to taking the bracelet between December and January and pawning it at a shop in Worth. The man said the son is now clean and thinks he is lying about the bracelet. The victim checked the pawn shops in Worth, but did not find the bracelet. He did not want his son arrested, but wants the bracelet found for its sentimental value. The bracelet is made up of gold rectangles with .5 carat diamonds at the end of each.

Police Blotter information is provided by 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.