Someone who answered a Craigslist posting to purchase cell phones was the victim of an armed robbery April 4 on the 500 block of West Roosevelt Road.

The victim told police he arranged a meeting with a Craigslist advertiser to purchase two Motorola brand cell phones for $600 each. The offender — a young woman, who called herself Crystal — said she had the phones in her Oldsmobile Riviera and led the victim to her car.

The victim was asked to enter the vehicle and before sitting down, he noticed two men behind him. One of the men produced a blue steel handgun and told the victim to, “Give me everything you got and take everything out before I shoot you.”

The victim then handed over his wallet, which contained multiple credit cards and $2,500. The woman and two men then drove off in the Oldsmobile in an unknown direction.

A patron of Harold Washington Library, at 400 S. State St., was charged last week with stealing three reference books — with a total value of more than $10,000.

On Dec. 8, Carlos Villarreal signed out three reference books from the library, which has a policy of not checking such books out. Villarreal presented a valid library card as ID to view the books — and an April 9 audit revealed that the books were never returned. Villarreal’s library card provided the address of a boarding room property in Pilsen. A subsequent police search of the property failed to find the books.

A vehicle break-in April 4 at 2300 S. Michigan Ave. resulted in a broken passenger side window, in addition to about $1,400 in stolen property. The victim said that he returned to his 2008 Saab to find the broken window and missing items from his glove compartment that included an Apple iPod, Apple iPad and a GPS system.

In a separate incident March 29, a victim lost about $1,600 from her car parked at 150 N. Columbus Drive. The victim said that when she returned to her locked vehicle, a 2005 Nissan, her door was open. She then discovered several missing items, including 10 pairs of shoes with an estimated total value of $600 and a $286 case of wine.

A cab driver says that on April 8 he picked up two customers at 1300 W. Belmont Ave. and drove them to the 300 block of South State Street. One of the customers attempted to pay the fare with a credit card, but it was declined. The customer then presented a $100 bill, which the driver accepted and also gave back $85 in change.

The driver later confirmed with police that the $100 bill was counterfeit.

A patron of Bennigans restaurant at 150 N. Michigan Ave. thwarted an attempted iPhone theft by a 15-year-old April 7.

Two patrons were seated at a table when the victim placed her Apple iPhone 4 on the table next to her. The offender then approached the victim and asked if she liked basketball. The offender then turned away from the table — and the victim noticed her iPhone was missing. A witness then got up from the table and approached the offender, who proceeded to run and throw the victim’s iPhone to the ground. A separate witness then stopped and detained the offender until police arrived on the scene.