Crime Report: Gas station robbed in Mokena
August 10, 2012 10:06PM
Updated: September 13, 2012 6:14AM
A masked man armed with a sledgehammer broke into a Mokena gas station
Aug. 2 and stole $7,360 worth of cigarettes and $320 in cash, according to police.
They said a patrol officer discovered the burglary when he noticed the glass front door of the Mobil station, 19301 LaGrange Road, had been shattered. The owner arrived at the station and determined the missing cash and cartons of cigarettes, police said.
A security video showed a burglar wearing gloves and a ski mask using the sledgehammer and removing the money and cigarettes in a large black bag, police said.
The station owner told police he did not know why his security company never received an alarm during the burglary.
Kate McCann
Down the hatch
A 21-year-old Mokena man swallowed a small amount of marijuana while fleeing police Aug. 2 to avoid a drug arrest, police said.
Officers were questioning Matthew Durka, 19522 S. 116th Ave., Apt. C, and asked him if there was anything illegal in his pockets. That’s when Durka reached into his pocket, took out a small object and put it in his mouth as he ran from police in the 19500 block of 115th Avenue, according to police.
They said officers caught Durka but not before he swallowed what was a small amount of pot.
Police said Durka was charged with resisting police, obstructing justice and criminal damage to property.
Kate McCann
COUNTRY CLUB HILLS
Homemade bomb exploded
Four teenagers were charged with aggravated assault after tossing from a car a homemade bomb that exploded near three men and a newborn baby in the 4300 block of 176th Street, police said.
The three men were placing one of the men’s 5-day-old infant in a car Aug. 1 when they heard an explosion behind them and saw a white Toyota driving away, according to police.
They said the men pursued the Toyota to the parking lot of Wal-Mart, where they angrily confronted the four teenagers who were in the car.
Police were called and broke up the dispute, charging the teens with aggravated assault. Charged were Kladi Cako, 18, 18053 Springfield Ave., Homewood; Kendall Spires, 18, 334 Hazel Lane, Hazel Crest; and Hakeem Shumate, 18, 17531 Maple Lane, and Jordan Bright, 18, 17809 John Ave., both of Country Club Hills.
Cako told police the teens made “Drano bombs” in plastic bottles and were watching them explode. He said they did not see the men and the infant before the bomb was tossed out the window, police said.
Cako also said they went to Wal-Mart to purchase supplies for more bombs when they were attacked by the men in the parking lot, according to police.
They said officers found several plastic bottles containing aluminum foil and two bottles of drain cleaner upon searching the Toyota.
Police said the three men involved in the altercation with the teens were charged with criminal damage to property for damaging the doors of the Toyota. They are Armon Shepard, 18, of Joliet; Jywon Garth, 40, 4332 W. 176th St., Country Club Hills; and Darrion Taylor, 27, 13851 Halsted St., Riverdale.
Kate McCann
