Two men lost a pair of textbooks and then their two rental bicycles in a concerted theft by three men while riding along the Riverwalk at 30 E. Lower Wacker Drive 2:15 p.m. Monday, April 9.

The men, a 19-year-old Chicago resident and an 18-year-old student at Harold Washington College, said they had just rented two bicycles from the McDonald’s Cycle Center at 239 E. Randolph St., and were riding on the Riverwalk when the first offender took a book bag from the 19-year-old and took out two books and fled west, dropping the book bag.

The two men then chased the first offender, when two more men came and took their two bikes. The victims toured the area with police looking for the stolen bikes and were told to keep an eye out for the offenders at Harold Washington College. The bikes were valued at $1200, the textbooks at $300.

About $5,000 in computer equipment was stolen earlier this year from ABN Ambro Clearing Co., at 175 W. Jackson Blvd.

Company officials told police that beginning in February they began to discover that they were missing computer equipment. On April 3 they discovered ripped packaging secreted in the bottom and rear of storage drawers.

Employees then began a search of eBay and Craigslist accounts and found the missing equipment on an eBay account registered to an Orland Park man who had been hired as a IT consultant by the company and worked alone at night.

The employees later matched the serial numbers of the missing equipment to the equipment advertised on eBay and on April 1, the eBay account was changed to a different name. Police have not yet charged the consultant with the theft of the missing computer equipment.

The School of the Art Institute reported discovering a bomb threat to the school on a Facebook page. Police said a 22-year-old Chicago woman had posted the threat on Tuesday, April 3, which stated in Korean “I will bomb this school some day,” and an unknown second person had posed the statement in Korean “I will help you succeed.’’ An assistant director of student affairs translated the Facebook page into English. Police said the school declined to press charges.

A 44-year-old Kentucky woman claimed she was date raped Sunday April 1 at Hotel 71, 71 E. Wacker Drive. The woman told police she had a few drinks in the hotel with Scott Lewis, 43, of the 1500 block of Florence Street in Evanston, at 1 a.m. April 1 and returned with him to her hotel room.

She told police that she later woke up feeling she had been assaulted and drugged. She returned to her home in Louisville, Kentucky, and went to a local center for women and families and was treated by a nurse and evidence was collected using a rape kit. Lewis was later charged with criminal sexual assault.

Police reported a fight at 2 p.m. March 25 between residents of a building at 2701 S. Indiana Ave. and what they called members of a local gang.

The victim told police that he, his brother and father had been involved in disputes with the Gangster Disciples, and had called police reporting two assaults and one battery in the past.

The fight lasted for five minutes before security guards broke it up. The guards told police that 11 suspected offenders have been banned from property at that location and that they had also advised the victims to obtain an order of protection.

—Compiled by Mike Ulreich

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By jojody
Posted: 04/24/2013 4:18 PM

I t is not really safe to in the streets now a days , Imagine even text book will be snatch. This is really bad I hope the authority will do something on this. - James Stuckey

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By Gapco Community Mother of College Students
Posted: 04/13/2012 11:17 AM

Two nights ago, two armed gunmen robbed my son as well. Our son was coming home late in the evening from DePaul University when he was robbed at gunpoint in the Gapco Community within Douglas, in the 3400 block on Giles. The robbers took his book bag which had his psychology notebook inside, along with a textbook and U-Pass. Our son is also a member of a dance club at DePaul and his jazz shoes were also in the book bag. He also had on gym shoes and they were taken from his feet. Then one of the gunman started searching his pockets for money. All this happened outside of our house before he could reach our front porch. Our daughter heard our son yell for help from her 2nd floor bedroom window and alerted us. We then rushed to open the front door and the gunmen fled north on Giles. The gunmen actually came from across the street; one of them was hiding alongside another row house across the street. They then rushed across with guns as he was entering through our iron gate. I can’t help but wonder if they were looking for textbooks to turn in for cash as well.