Crime & Safety

Polite Nude Stranger Drops By for a Visit: Weird Crimes

Maid grabs laced brownie by mistake • Blackhawks fan celebrates Stanley Cup win with DUI • Grenade left in yard draws bomb squad ... This week's roundup of weird crime news in the Southland.

Maid Accidentally Eats Pot Brownie


June 7: A housekeeper received an intoxicating surprise after accidentally eating a pot brownie left at an Orland Park home.

A 22-year-old man and a 23-year-old man, both from Orland Park, were cited by police for reckless conduct after the pair held a sleepover where they had brownies allegedly made with marijuana, according to police. The 57-year-old housekeeper was unhurt and released from the hospital. She told officers a urine test came back positive for marijuana but she didn't want to prosecute the two men.

Orland Park police came to the home at about 10:30 a.m. in the 9100 block of Kensington Way, according to a report. At that time, the housekeeper was feeling faint and dizzy. She told police the brownie tasted like it had marijuana inside. The parents of the 22-year-old man, who lived at the Kensington Way home, were overseas on vacation. The man said some of his friends slept over the previous night. All of his friends, except for the 23-year-old man, already had left.

Both men had refused to tell officers if the brownies had marijuana, despite requests from hospital staff who needed to know what was in them, police said. One of the men retrieved three Tupperware containers full of fresh brownies. The desserts had a "very strong" smell of marijuana coming from them. The two men were arrested and agreed to talk with police about what really happened with the laced brownies. However, one man refused to sign a written confession and was unhelpful when questioned.

Both men were issued municipal violations and are due on July 9 for a hearing at the Orland Park Municipal Center.

Read more on Orland Park Patch

Old Grenade Left Under Tree Causes Scare


June 26: A disabled grenade that dates back to World War II caused a scare in Palos Hills last month.

Police said a homeowner in the 10100 block of 81st Court found a yellow "pineapple" grenade in his front yard. The Cook County bomb squad was called to handle the explosive. They determined that the grenade, which was sitting under a tree, was real but had been deactivated. No one was injured and the explosive device was disposed of by the county bomb squad.

The Mk 2 fragmentation grenade dates back to World War II and saw use in several major American conflicts. The small, handheld device weighed a little more than one pound and was made of grooved cast iron, giving it the appearance of a small pineapple and earning the nickname. Grenades of this type were sometimes filled with TNT instead of powder explosive and painted yellow.

The homeowner thought it was a toy, at first, but then picked it up and realized the grenade was possibly authentic, police said. Palos Hills Deputy Chief James Boie said Cook County sealed off the area for hours while the bomb squad handled the device. Police are not sure where the explosive came from or why it was left under a tree.

Read more on Palos Patch

Blackhawks Fan Celebrates with DUI Crash


June 24: A Blackhawks fan from Orland Park treaded on thin ice with authorities when she crashed her Jeep the night of the Stanley Cup victory.

Janice E. Crowne, 49, of the 9800 block of El Camino Lane, was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, DUI with a blood-alcohol content greater than 0.08, failing to reduce speed to avoid a crash, driving without insurance and driving with a suspended license, according to an Orland Park report that only recently became available. Orland Park police were called at 10:34 p.m. on June , just a little while after the Blackhawks clinched the Stanley Cup in game 6, to investigate a hit and run crash near the intersection of 159th Street and Wolf Road. A short time later, a witness to the collision called police to say he was following the vehicle that drove away and told police where to find it. 

A Jeep, driven by a white woman in a green Chicago Blackhawks jersey, had rear-ended his car, the victim told police. At the same time, an officer caught up with the driver of the Jeep. Crowne, who was still wearing the green jersey, was found along with her severely banged up ride, the report states. Police pulled a piece of the rear taillight of the victim's car from the Jeep's front bumper.

Crowne allegedly admitted to drinking, according to the report. Police were able to smell alcohol on her breath, too. She was arrested after failing field sobriety tests, police said. Officers gave her another test, this one for her BAC, and then booked her for the night. Unable to post bond, Crowne was detained until a bond hearing the next morning.

Read more on Orland Park Patch 

Polite Nude Stranger Makes Unexpected House Call


July 3: A man walked into someone else's Tinley Park apartment entirely in the buff and startled a woman, according to police.

The 20-year-old New Lenox woman sitting on the living room couch yelled at the man, who appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and demanded to know what he was doing in the apartment, a Tinley Park police report states.

According to the witness, the man uttered, "Oh, I am sorry," and left a few seconds later. Both the woman and the apartment owner, who was in the bedroom when the nude interloper stopped by, heard a door slam shut in the hallway. They tried knocking on nearby apartment doors in the building, located in the 15900 block of Olcott Avenue, but no one answered.

Police also checked the neighboring apartment, according to the report. The suspect is described as a white man in his 20s with light brown, shaggy hair, between 5-feet, 6-inches and 5-feet, 9-inches tall and 160-180 pounds. No arrest was reported. The woman told police she was unsure if she wanted to sign a complaint.

Read more on Tinley Park Patch


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Police report information is provided by local police departments. Charges are not evidence of guilt. They are a record of police actions 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.

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